Stumble
by Masked-Writer-In-Disguise
Summary: Instead of wishing further on stars that didn't hear him...he resigned himself to lay in bed, in the silence staring at the ceiling that cheated in an unfair staring contest with the sun shining happily through the window with no drapes. KakaIru.
1. Snow White Queen

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Hello, readers. This story was rude enough to bite me in the butt. It started out as a need to write a story where the characters were completely in character and developed into an odd romance thingy. I jumped from fandom to fandom but none of the characters that I chose would get my brain pumping, but then I was talking with my friends about __**Naruto**__ and my friend, Ko, mentioned Kakashi's Thousand Years' of Pain Jutsu. Suddenly, the plot bunny that had been forming in my head grew ten times it original size and gave me a massive headache. Incidentally, this is the story that was born._

_I think that this will be the first story in which I have not inserted my OC or my friends' OC's. That is just a personal note, so if you really don't care then you really don't need to. _

_Btw, this story's title came from __**Stumble**__ by __**Natasha Bedingfield.**_

_**Summary: **__Kakashi is depressed, lonely, cynical, questioning his importance to Konohagakure, and multiple other things that go with being the village's perverted sociopath. Tsunade finds out about it and tries to find a good person to help him get out of his depression, so she sets him up with Iruka and things go from there. -Set in Shippuden and Sasuke has been brought back-_

_**Disclaimer:**__ Alright, y'all know the drill. I don't own Naruto, the songs that the chapter titles came from, or anything else that may make an appearance or be hinted at in this story, yada, yada, yada. Y'all know how it goes. ON WITH THE STORY!!! __**-**__points dramatically-_

_**Inspiration for Chapter:**__ Snow White Queen-Evanescence_

_&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&_

_Stumble-Chapter 1:_

Snow White Queen

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

The man stumbled through the halls, his chin to his chest and his clothes torn and covered in blood and dirt. He passed no one in the building. After all, it was 4:00 am and the only people who would be out were the jonins just getting off guard duty. The man's hair caught the dim lighting of the building and, despite being matted with blood and dirt, it gave off a silver glint. His feet came to a stop in front of a plain, brown door and one of his hands shakily came to rest on the cheap brass doorknob.

The door opened and the man tripped over the threshold and into the black, shabby apartment. The door closed behind him and he tried to lift his shirt over his head. He hissed. Blood had dried onto the shirt, connecting the dirty cloth to the wounds beneath it. When trying pull the offending garment off failed, the man pulled a kunai out of his weapons' pouch and began to cut the shirt off. Next came the pants. He continued his attempt at walking toward the small bathroom across the room, leaving a trail of bloody rags behind him.

When he arrived at the bathroom door, he had divested himself of all clothing and was barely standing. The door gave way before him. Soon the man was standing at the shower testing the water with a First Aid kit in his hand. The First Aid kit having been set onto the counter, he let out a hiss as he stepped under the water, the heated liquid burned the raw edges of the wounds. Pink water swirled down the drain and disappeared; mud followed. The man tilted his head back, letting the water run through his hair, slowly revealing its silver color. The hot water relaxed his muscles even as it burned his wounds, most of which were deep and probably infected. He went through all the motions of cleaning himself without really paying attention to what it was he was doing. His body was moving on autopilot.

He got out of the shower to see a dog sitting near the partially open door.

"Kakashi, if I can sneak up on you that easily you are either exhausted or working yourself too hard. Although, in this case, it seems to be both," the dog rumbled, managing to sound somewhat concerned for the silver-haired nin's health.

"I really don't care at this point, Pakkun," Kakashi rasped. "I could die for all I care and nobody would miss me. I'd have less pain to deal with."

"I'm just saying that you need rest; your chakra level is almost non-existent, your blood left a trail from your door to the bathroom, sheer force of will is keeping you standing and you didn't reset the traps you had removed when you came in. You're a sitting duck."

"Go away, Pakkun, unless you have suddenly grown opposable thumbs and can help me bandage myself up."

The pug sighed and turned around to leave. "Kakashi," it said over it's shoulder, " we're here, by we I mean the other dogs and me, and we're not going anywhere until you're back at your usual strength. You will have very little bed space tonight."

Kakashi's lips curved into a bitter sort of a smile and he began to gather the materials needed for cleaning and bandaging his wounds from his First Aid kit. Time soon found him sitting at his dining room table struggling to wrap the bandages around his torso. Things were not going well. Kakashi was tired, sore and rapidly losing patience with the world. He was about ready to give up on life and summon a clone to do it for him. His instinct to live eventually won, and the tired Sharingan user finally finished the crappy patch job on himself. The bandages weren't perfect, but they would hold through the night or until he could find the strength to make it to the hospital for proper healing.

Kakashi stood on wobbly legs and made his way slowly over to the door that hid his bedroom from the sight of one entering through the front door. The Seven Nin-Ken followed automatically, the largest of them all, Bull, moving forward to assist the master should he fall. They walked into the room, Kakashi and Bull coming first the others second, and soon found themselves fighting for space on the queen sized bed that took up most of the room. Kakashi had a very small apartment. Kakashi was out before his head hit he pillow, so the Nin-Ken continued their squabbling as quietly as they could. Pakkun simply claimed the spot to the left of Kakashi's head and Bull substituted a blanket, as Kakashi hadn't had a chance to pull one up before he fell asleep. Anyone looking at the sight would never guess that this was the Sharingan Kakashi, but as no one was looking, the thought never crossed anyone's mind, effectively leaving Kakashi as an invincible man in the eye of Konohagakure.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

"…Kakashi," a female voice called out as a hand that probably belonged to the person who was talking touched his shoulder and shook him. "Kakashi wake up. Honestly, what the hell were you thinking not going to the hospital right away. Your blood is still all over the building. I've got some people cleaning it up, but there's so much blood. You do realize that you could have bled to death before you ever made it back to your apartment?"

Kakashi groaned. He really didn't give a damn, and he was about to say so when he realized that he really didn't have the energy to talk. He opted for ignoring the voice to the best of his ability. It didn't work because the lady gave him a rather hard shake and continued to prattle on about anything that came to mind.

The silver haired man finally opened his eyes only to glare at the annoying voice at his bedside. He discovered that it was none other that Tsunade herself.

"What're ya doin'ere?" he slurred out. It was honestly the best he could do without about 12 dozen cups of coffee, but seeing as his coffee pot had died before he left on the mission, he really could do nothing about his current predicament.

"The guards told me you came back at about 3:45 this morning and that you were covered in blood and didn't look like you were going to make it. You refused medical aid and went home, so I came over to make sure that you were still alive. You are such an idiot. Now sit up, brat, and let me have a look at you," the Hokage explained gruffly. She was in a bad mood, so Kakashi thought it wise to just sit up and let her do her thing.

Kakashi gathered all the strength he possessed and pushed himself up. As he lifted his body he realized that he was very much naked, as he hadn't taken the time to put on something as trivial as clothes on the night before. He also hadn't expected anyone to come looking for him…especially not the Hokage. Sitting up took time and Tsunade did little to help, but soon he was sitting with his back turned to the woman. He could feel her fingers poking at the bandages.

"Well, it ain't pretty, but you did a good job of making sure they'd hold," Tsunade murmured.

The man didn't know weather or not to be insulted. Once again, he opted for the middle road and allowed the woman to poke and prod at his wounds and their dressings and heal what she could. She healed almost everything except for the deepest gash in his back, which she did mostly heal, and told him to get rest as his chakra level was non-existent at this point in time. Kakashi heard a snort to his left, turned his head and saw Pakkun sitting at the forefront of the pack. Kakashi glared. The dog was looking entirely too smug and the man being forced to suffer through Tsunade's painful check-up was ready to kill the small animal.

"…Oh, and, Kakashi, don't you dare die on us. Sasuke came out of his coma this morning, around 5 am, and he'll need you around. He doesn't trust us very much, but you've saved his life countless times, so it's only natural," Tsunade gathered up her gear and left the room quietly, leaving Kakashi to his thoughts.

"Well, boss, you heard her. Get some sleep," Pakkun lead the dogs back to the bed and they reclaimed their places. "If you don't, I'll go get that snake woman downstairs to knock you out."

Kakashi glared at the pug. "You wouldn't… I think the point of getting me to sleep is to heal me, not to cause more injury."

The dog shrugged to the best of his ability. "Then go to sleep."

Kakashi reluctantly did as he was told; Anko was famous for her left hook. Despite how fast his mind was working, sleep came easily and he found himself in a deep sleep. It was the kind of sleep that steals up on little children, kender, animals and rocks; deep and undisturbed.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

The sun was shining brightly into the window without any drapes, and in its happy mood, it failed to realize that the occupant of the room that bore the window without drapes desperately wished that it would disappear for another day or so. The sun continued to shine it's light through the window and the occupant groaned and rolled over, trying to block the light from his eyes. It didn't work because now he was awake and nothing in the world would be able to get him back to sleep until the sun went to bed and the moon took her turn in the sky. So, the silver haired man opened his eyes and stared at the wall for a good ten minutes before he realized that he was indeed staring at the wall, which was unfortunately winning the unfair staring contest, and that his body was screaming for sustenance.

After about ten more minutes he found it in him to pull himself out of bed and go and raid the tiny kitchenette for anything remotely resembling food. At this point Kakashi really didn't care weather the food was actually food or if it were something that had once been food and was now in such a state of moldiness that most people wouldn't consider touching it. Unfortunately, most of the food in his tiny excuse of a kitchen was of the second variety and he was forced to eat ramen and some frozen fruits that he had found in his freezer. The fruit would honestly have tasted better if it were fresh, and the ramen would have tasted better if it were not of the shrimp variety, but food was food.

Kakashi raided the cabinets for anything caffeinated as his coffeepot was broken. He found about half a dozen cartons of black tea, three cartons of orange tea, two and a half cartons of green tea, one carton of chai and half a carton of vanilla. Seeing as he had such an assortment of teas of various flavors, he decided he'd try them all at least once. Kakashi couldn't remember buying any of this stuff, but, well, someone did and he wasn't complaining.

It was only after the man had brewed a mug of the weakly caffeinated liquid that he remembered why he was a coffee person. Tea was disgusting and watery and not a good drink for someone that likes his coffee so strong that it tastes like shit. Kakashi sighed and decided to go look for his book, which was probably in his room. Once he had found it he returned to the kitchen/living room/dining room/entranceway area of his apartment and took his usual place on the old, worn, ugly, napping couch that took up most of the small living space that the Copy Nin owned. Total cosmic power; itty-bitty living space.* The book in his hand was falling apart, but he really didn't care, nor did he have enough money to go off and buy himself a new one. His students would kill him if he did anyway. They were always on him about his reading material. Hell, everybody was.

The small pug known as Pakkun came and settled itself on Kakashi's stomach and effectively got Kakashi's attention.

"Kakashi," the small dog began, "When are you actually going to listen to the advice of the medics? You need rest if you're going to be of any use to your students and the village."

"My students will be fine without me. They were before they met me," Kakashi replied before taking a sip of the watery tea.

The pug sighed. "Kakashi, the one with the hair that looks like a duck's butt is going to need you very soon. You're the only one besides himself with his clan's kekkei genkai. Not only that, but you were friends with the boys uncle."

Now Kakashi sighed. "If you really want me to get some sleep tell the dogs to get off of my bed. They haven't listened to me concerning my bed space since they were pups."

"Fine."

Soon the dogs were off of the bed and Kakashi was laying in it, staring at the ceiling, which was cheating just as much as the wall had been that morning. Silence permeated the air and the sun continued to shine through the window without any drapes. Kakashi turned his head and stared out the window at the sun shining brightly, happily, obliviously, and he just wished it would rain. He wished that for once the weather would reflect just how he was feeling inside. He wished that people would stop expecting so much from him; he was only human. He wished his sensei and his teammates were here with him, like they would have been had they been alive. He wished that his father hadn't committed suicide and that his mother was still alive running their family teashop. He wished for a lot of things, but he never got any of them, so instead of wishing further on stars that didn't hear him and asking the help of gods that had decided that they hated him, he resigned himself to lay in bed, in the silence staring at the ceiling that cheated in an unfair staring contest with the sun shining brightly through the window with no drapes while people throughout the village went on with their lives, oblivious to the depression of Konoha's greatest shinobi.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Well, there's the first chapter of __**Stumble**__ for you. I really hope that you like it. I'm rather proud of it myself. It has taken a lot of work and trying to find ways to fit certain things in. Anyway, I would love to hear your ideas, suggestions, criticisms, etc., so if you wouldn't mind pressing the big button that says REVIEW, that'd be great. Thanks for reading!_

_* I got this line from Genie in the movie Aladdin. I love Genie and this seemed to fit in well with the story, so I threw it in._


	2. Light Up the Sky

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Well, hello again. Here's chapter two of __**Stumble.**__ This chapter was not quite as rude as the first, but it still gave me trouble. Every story that I try to write has to sneak up on me when I least expect it…-sigh-…maybe it's just me, but yeah. Well, on with the story!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Naruto, Kakashi, Iruka, Sasuke, etc., or anything else that may be mentioned in this story/fanfic/randomness, yada, yada, yada. We all know the drill by now, so why do I have to put this on every chapter/story? Never mind. I'll figure it out later._

_**Inspiration:**__ Light Up the Sky-Yellowcard _

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble-Chapter 2:_

_Light Up the Sky_

By: Masked-Writer-In-DisguiseBeep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Smack.

The alarm clock barely managed to survive its encounter with the hand. It was this way everyday and it was finally on its last legs. One more day and it would be cast aside like its many predecessors. The hand slid down the alarm clock, down the side of the nightstand and came to rest next to the tan, chocolate-haired body resting on its stomach as a low groan was emitted from its throat. Iruka opened his eyes after about five full minutes of the most annoying alarm clock sound in the history of annoying alarm clock sounds. The steady BEEP…BEEP…BEEP…of the machine was not what put him in his bad mood today, however. The weekend was over and he had to go back to a classroom of children with sharp, pointy objects. He loved the kids and all, but who's idea was it to give a classroom full of 5-7 year-olds kunai anyway?

Iruka found it in himself to get out of the warm bed on a wonderful Monday morning and he soon found himself going through his usual morning routine. Naruto had always thought that he was too much in a rut and would always try to find a way to mix it up in the morning. Iruka loved Naruto, but he needed his morning routine to wake him up, so he went through it without any thought at all; get out of bed, turn on the coffee pot, pick out clothes, get in shower, get dressed, get breakfast and drink coffee, brush teeth, go through lesson plan, grab graded papers, leave for the Academy.

Soon Iruka found himself sitting in the teachers' lounge 10 minutes later with 30 minutes until his class started. The lounge was basically a room where the teachers escaped the children and their many pointy objects that they were supposed to be training to use. The table that Iruka was finishing up his grading work on was on it's last legs, the sofa had probably been in the same room in the same spot since the founding of the village and the coffee pot could probably stand to be updated. When a machine takes an hour to brew 12 cups, everyone knows it's old. The back of the door was littered with dents and pockmarks from the multiple knives that had missed the cardboard target, which was in the same shape as the table and sofa. Despite all of the problems the teachers faced with furniture and the coffeepot, they still found time in their busy day to hide in the room.

Anyway, not many teachers were at the Academy as early as Iruka was, but not many teachers had the classes the Iruka had. If Iruka wasn't there and the students were, they took it upon themselves to topple over desks and write on the walls or try to pull pranks on their sensei. He had been late once and that was all it took for him to never be late again. Thankfully, the teachers that were there weren't the talkative type otherwise he'd never get the rest of his work done. Nobody really liked to talk in the morning.

Iruka soon finished his grading and was gathering up his stuff to head to his classroom. The earliest students would be arriving soon and he was NOT leaving them in a room alone. Ever. Not even if it was for a survival-training lesson. That was how little he actually trusted his students at this age without him there. He entered the room and found it, to his relief, completely empty, but just to be sure, he did a thorough check to make sure the cost was actually clear. He had done it all when he was younger and he wasn't going to take any chances. The room was clear and the first student to arrive entered the room and took his seat. He was a quiet child, and he always had his book with him. If Iruka was actually thinking about what this implied, he would have thought that he was going to turn out like a certain silver-haired genius that got on Iruka's nerves, but since he wasn't thinking like that, the thought went unthought and the rest of the class entered the room in groups of two or three.

The last student to arrive was Konohamaru, and he arrived about 10 minutes after class had begun.

"Konohamaru, you're 10 minutes late. Detention," Iruka then went back to his lesson as though the boy hadn't come in 10 minutes late.

Meanwhile, Konohamaru stuttered and sputtered about how unfair it was to have to stay after school for being later for school, which wasn't his fault. Iruka kindly tuned it out and got the boy to shut up by throwing a kunai at him. Then he went on with his lesson as if nothing ever happened…again. He was getting better at ignoring odd happenings.

"Ok, there is an essay, due next Friday on the differences between genjustu and ninjustu. I don't want a bunch of papers…" the class followed this explanation with less than enthusiastic noises and faces. Their sensei just loved torturing them.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Iruka entered his home quietly. It had been a long day. Children had been throwing kunai, Konohamaru and his gang had tried to pull multiple pranks on him, not realizing that he'd done it all before and that the more they tried to get out of detention the longer they had to stay after school. And stay they had…for four hours. Coming home was honestly the best thing that could happen to Iruka right now. The chocolate haired man went about his house looking for places to put things temporarily until he could organize his thoughts better. Right now he just needed some soothing vanilla tea and a long, hot shower.

Iruka went to his kitchen and began boiling water. He hated Mondays with a passion. The beginning of the week was always a pain in the ass because one had to get back into the routine that ruled one's life every other day except the two days that were thankfully for one's leisure. Being a teacher, however, usually meant spending weekends cooped up in one's house or apartment, respectively, and grading the papers of the children that could care less about their ninja training academy lessons. All that they really cared for was the weapons practice on Wednesdays and Fridays after lunch. Iruka dreaded Wednesdays and Fridays even more than he dreaded Mondays.

The kettle whistled out its off-key note and Iruka pulled himself out of his thoughts and back to the present. He still had work to do, tea to drink, dinner to cook, a shower to take and papers to grade. He wasn't really looking forward to tonight, but he loved teaching, so it was a small price to pay.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

It was three hours into the grading process and things were almost done. Iruka was feeling the 'almost done antsyness' that usually took over when one had three more poorly written papers to go. Iruka just couldn't wait to go to bed.

But, alas, just when he thought that he could crawl beneath his blankets for a good nights' rest before he had to go a room full of screaming children…again, there was a knock at his door. Iruka sighed and stood to answer it.

"L-l-lady Tsunade?" Iruka stuttered in amazement. Tsunade rarely made house calls and when she did, it was always very important.

"Yes, Iruka-sensei. May I come in or are ya just gonna stand there gaping like a fish?" Tsunade asked as politely as she could manage. It was 10 PM after all.

"Oh, yes, sorry Lady Hokage," Iruka shuffled as quickly as humanly possible out of the doorway. Iruka led Tsunade to the living room where he had been grading papers and cleared a spot on the couch. "Is there anything in particular that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. It's about Kakashi-sensei."

Iruka blinked. "What does he have to do with me?"

"I would like you to keep an eye on him for a while. He's rather down, even if other people don't realize it and I don't want him doing something stupid. His students recommended you, and I happen to agree with them. You won't be teaching at the Academy for a few weeks as I'll want you to either move into his apartment temporarily or visa versa. If you accept the mission I'll personally contact Genma to take your shift," Tsunade explained quickly but thoroughly.

Iruka blinked. "Naruto recommended me for this mission? He knows we don't get along."

"I think that he may be hoping that the two of you will learn to tolerate each other, at least, so that he doesn't have to feel awkward when the two of you are in a room together."

Iruka sat back and thought the mission through. He could do it and he'd get away from the noisy classroom. He needed a vacation, but was dealing with a depressed Copy-Nin really a vacation or a curse? It had to be easier than dealing with a group of children. Adults didn't need everything to be explained to them and they didn't need a reminder when to eat lunch, or a bathroom break, or to run laps when they tired to throw kunai at their teacher. Dealing with Kakashi would be tough, but it was more appealing that the children right now.

"Alright, I'll do it," Iruka broke the silence that had stretched, long and thick, between the Hokage and the Chunnin.

"Good. I knew you would. I'll go to Genma brief him while you get ready for meeting with Kakashi tomorrow. You're going to decide how this is going to work. I'll be expecting weekly reports on his progress, so I'll talk to you then," Tsunade stood up and left as quickly as he had come, which was actually rather slowly, but the point that she was leaving.

Iruka leaned back into the couch and thought things through. If Kakashi was going to be getting through his depression, he might benefit from being in a familiar setting, but the familiar setting might be the cause of the depression. As Iruka really didn't know much about what was going on, he decided to go to bed and wait until tomorrow. He'd figure thinks out then.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Well, there you have it chapter two of __Stumble__. We're starting to get some plot here! –pats self on back- Hooray! Chapter 2 and I still have ideas! This is a very good day for me. Anyway, I'll be trying to get chapters out in weekly intervals for you, so if I'm ever late, I apologize in advance. Thanks for reading!_


	3. Part Of Me

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Hahahahaha, I'm back! w00Tness!! This is the third installment of __**Stumble.**__ Yeah! I found the plot bunny. It was hiding in my closet, which isn't really surprising considering the type of plot bunny it is, but that's beside the point. The point is that I'm back and those people that wanted me to continue shall get their wish. This si probably the only wish I will grant you, though, so enjoy it._

_**Disclaimer:**_ _I don't own Naruto, and I probably never will unless it turns out that the owner does want to randomly give the rights to me, but that's never gonna happen, so we're back at square one. You all understand this, yes? –smiles and nods.- Good._

_**Inspiration:**_ _Part of Me- Linkin park_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble: Chapter 3_

_Part of Me_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

Ok, today was not a good day. Why was today not good? Well, today wasn't good because Kakashi had just found out that the Hokage was assigning someone to babysit him, and to put the icing on the cake, which he really doesn't care for one way or the other, it had to be Iruka. Out of all of the shinobi in the village, it had to be the one that he didn't really get along with. The Hokage had a grudge against him or she was just a sadist that liked to see him in pain. Her son liked him and was like a father to him, but no, she had to be an evil bitch and make him have a thrice damned babysitter. Just to add insult to injury, he had to live with the Chunnin, too. No, today was not a good day for the Copy-Nin.

Good day or not, Kakashi had to get up anyway and go meet the man that would be potentially living with him. They were meeting for coffee at the only coffee shop in the entire village. One would think that there would be more than one in a village this size, but there wasn't, so the coffee shop was often referred to simply as 'the coffee shop' because everyone knew exactly which one they were talking about and where it was located. It was right down town in between a weapons shop and the Yamanaka's flower shop and across from the park where the children played ninja and the teens made out and the adults watched both with little interest.

The silver-haired man was currently looking at himself in the mirror, trying half-heartedly to make his hair halfway presentable so that the easily irritated Chunnin didn't yell at him, but it was a losing battle. He eventually opted for leaving his hair be and picked up his tooth brush. Mask or not, he wasn't going to make anyone, not even his most hated enemy, suffer through his morning breath. It could peel paint and was similar to a dog's in the morning. Kakashi stuck his toothbrush in his mouth as he went through his apartment to find cloths. He passed a full length mirror and vaguely wondered why he always wandered around his apartment naked.

The jonin settled on his usual uniform and went to the kitchen to make breakfast. Naruto, Sakura and Sai had stopped by yesterday afternoon and they had brought groceries. Well, Sakura had brought groceries; Naruto and Sai had just ran into her as she was going to their sensei's address and they had tagged along just for kicks. All that aside, Kakashi pulled out a loaf of bread and stuck three slices in the toaster. There would be food at the coffee shop. There would be coffee, too, but he drank his usual four cups before exiting his sorry excuse for an apartment. He was irritable enough with his usual dosage of caffeine; he didn't need to murder any of the villagers on his way to the appointment with one Iruka Umino.

The weather that day was beautiful; the birds were singing, the sun was shining; there was a slight breeze to lessen the harshness of the sun's rays. The children were running through the streets. Adults were bargaining in the open market and at the kiosks dotting the route from Kakashi's apartment to the coffee shop. Pick- pockets bumped into people 'accidentally' and came out with a few extra bucks, a ring, a bracelet, etc. However, all of this was lost on one Kakashi Hatake as he had his nose glued to the pages of his favorite book and therefore remained partially oblivious to the organized chaos of the mid- morning traffic that surrounded him. The only reason he remained even remotely aware of his surroundings was because of his ninja training; shinobi instincts don't let one get caught unawares…well, most of the time. It happens to the best of them at one point or another.

Many people watched the man pass with contempt. They glared at him and pulled children away from him. Mothers quickly changed route, removing their children from the path of the porn-reading, silver-haired protector. Kakashi smiled at their attempt at subtly hiding from his reading habits. If he were walking down the street without his book, people would smile at him and say a random hello or give a nod of acknowledgement; ONLY if he didn't have his book out. Sometimes he wondered if they realized that if they asked, he'd put the book away, but he didn't care today. He was trying to forget about the upcoming meeting for as long as possible, so he lost himself in the worn pages of his book until he came to the coffee shop.

The silver-haired man was actually on time. This fact alone would give an average man a heart attack, but if they knew the reasons behind this unexpected occurrence they would die of laughter. The Hokage had threatened him with bodily harm if he didn't show and Iruka wasn't the nicest person when he was left waiting for more than an hour. Thank you Naruto for your vast knowledge of the man he was going to meet, but Kakashi supposed that living with said man for the majority of one's life can do that to a person.

Kakashi moved through the 'not-overly-crowded-but-not-so-unpopulated-as-to-be-bad-for-business' coffee shop to the table that held the chocolate-haired teacher that he was being chained to, figuratively speaking.

"Hello," Iruka said brightly. The man had a smile on his face and it seemed genuine, but Kakashi had always been second guessing his first assumptions. It lead to a lot of misunderstandings with potential friends and made more enemies than he cared to count. That was one of the many reasons that he was the socially awkward man he was today. The other reason was his unnaturally genius mind and his advanced placement in the ranks. Anyway, back to the present.

"Yo," Kakashi gave his signature greeting and took his place opposite the Chunnin in the booth.

"You're actually on time," Iruka stated the obvious before continuing. "Where do you want to live, my apartment or yours? I don't care either way, and this is kinda about you."

Kakashi blinked stupidly. Nobody he had ever been paired with ever gave him a choice of their own free will. If he was the leader, that was that, but if he wasn't, he was a mindless tool. So, in light of this unexpected turn of events, he replied with the ever eloquent, "Uhh…"

Iruka just laughed and the waiter brought the chocolate colored man his coffee.

"Yours, if you don't mind," Kakashi finally stated. "Mine is a little small, barely big enough for me, much less you and me…and my dogs…"

Iruka nodded as he took a sip of his still piping hot drink. "Mine it is…" Silence wound its way around the two men, weaving this way and that before being scared away by Iruka's question. "Are your dogs going to be staying with us?"

Kakashi looked up from his intensive study of the knot just to the left and slightly in front of the salt shaker and blinked for a few minutes, processing the words. "No, I only keep them with me because it's habit. I'll send them back to their own plain unless you want them to come out."

"It's fine however you want to do it. They're your dogs and I don't really know your routine, or whatever," Iruka muttered. Kakashi watched the man quietly; he seemed kind of distanced from the happenings at the table.

"Are you ok, Iruka-sensei?" Kakashi asked, more for politeness' sake than for actually caring.

"I'm fine, but I'm worried about my students. Genma is filling in for me and that's scary. I've never even taken a sick day much less a vacation," the chocolate haired man gestured in the air when he said the word 'vacation,' "I'm not sure how my class will respond to having a substitute."

Kakashi chuckled and gave his trademark eye-smile to the worried man across the table. "Genma will be fine. He's good with kids, too. You don't have to worry about them."

Iruka looked at the man across from him in silent amazement. Kakashi only picked up on this because of the half gaping-fish face the man pulled. Then the chunnin's face filled with wary disbelief.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"One, you chuckled. I've never heard you chuckle before, and two, Genma's good with kids? Since when and how did he learn to be good with kids?"

"In response to your first observation, yes, I do that sometimes. In response to your second, he has younger siblings and two nieces," Kakashi leaned back in his seat, legs spread and altogether too comfortable for a shinobi to be in public, but he was known for his abnormalities.

"Uh-huh…" Iruka responded, still disbelieving. Then he moved on to business. "When are you going to be moving your stuff to my house? I'm free for an indeterminate amount of time," which meant until the mission was completed, "and I don't really care when you move our stuff in. It could be later today, for all I care."

"Ok, tomorrow afternoon, then?" Kakashi asked easily.

Iruka looked at Kakashi suspiciously.

Kakashi looked back with an innocent expression on his face, and one that wasn't entirely faked either, He honestly had no clue why Iruka kept staring at him like that. "What? This is the second time you've looked at me like that."

"You're being entirely too agreeable about this. I was expecting you to be…"

"Angry, pissed, disgruntled, uncooperative; take your pick, I've got more," Kakashi cut the man off and filled in the blank.

Iruka glared at Kakashi, who smiled innocently. "Yes, why are you being cooperative?"

"Because I can take out my frustration on a tree later, and the Hokage threatened me with bodily harm and four months of D-rank missions if I make you cry, so nice it is."

"I hardly doubt that you could make me cry," Iruka smirked at the man.

"You wanna bet?" Kakashi leaned forward slightly.

Iruka was just about to reply, but he was interrupted, "What did I tell you Kakashi?" Tsunade said as she picked up the meal that she had ordered in advance. She left and both men had sunk back into their seats and were glaring at each other.

Silence permeated the air around the two men. They didn't talk to each other; they sat there watching each other, learning each other's body language until the silence was broken by Naruto entering the building.

"Hi, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei," the blonde boy came to stand next to his teachers' table.

"Hello, Naruto," Iruka replied while Kakashi nodded. "Why are you here?"

"I'm here to get Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke woke up this yesterday morning, fell back asleep, and woke up again about three hours ago and has been asking for members of team 7 since then, so I've been told to go out and bring them to him on pain of death as soon as he gets out of the hospital," Naruto smiled brightly. "As if the bastard could ever kill me."

Kakashi and Iruka both laughed at that and Kakashi stood up to follow his blond student to the hospital. Before he left he gave a quick bow to the man that was soon to be his roommate. "I'll see you tomorrow, Iruka-sensei."

And with that, Kakashi went to visit his hospitalized student.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Kakashi closed the door to his apartment slowly. Today had been exhausting. Sasuke had woken up and was in a frail mental state because of the torture he'd been put through in Orochimaru's 'care,' Iruka and him had had a conversation concerning the time the he, Kakashi, an adult male, would have to be babysat by another adult male, and he'd forgotten to get food at the coffee shop. There was no way in hell he was going to eat hospital food, so he was hungry. Then after all of that, he had go to the training grounds to take out his rampant emotions on a poor unsuspecting, uninvolved, innocent tree. Needless to say, the tree hadn't survived the encounter.

But, on to other matters, food was high on his list of priorities, so he headed to the kitchenette. The man riffled through his cupboards, finding a can of Spaghetti-O's, a granola bar, and, after searching through the fridge, two string cheeses. Well, it wasn't the best of meals, but it was food. The state of the food didn't matter much to him.

Kakashi put the Spaghetti-O's into a saucepan and put them on the stove before unwrapping one of the string cheeses. He then turned to his living room and looked around for anything he may want to take with him to his temporary new home. There were several books on his shelf, none of them were even close to being porn, that he hadn't read yet and Icha Icha was getting slightly old. He'd bring those. He knew that he'd need the necessities and his cloths…Maybe some music. Kakashi didn't know what Iruka would listen too. There were a few movies on his shelves that he wanted to bring. Once again, he didn't know what Iruka liked.

Kakashi glanced down at the sauce pan that was happily bubbling away and decided that his meal was ready for consumption. He grabbed a bowl and spoon from his dish rack, poured the pasta and sauce into it, and moved to the counter that also served as the dining room table to eat.

He'd pack and shower later, but for now he'd eat…and think, maybe talk to his sensei and Obito. He needed advice.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Well, there you have it, the third chapter of __**Stumble**__. How'd you like it? Did you hate it? Inquiring minds want to know, so press the big button that says REVIEW down at the bottom of the screen, ok? It makes writers very happy._


	4. Size Matters

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Haha, its chapter four. I bet you weren't expecting it this soon now were you. Lol, I bet you didn't. Well, this is chapter four of __**Stumble**__. Yea! I like this story. It's fun to write and with as many songs as I have on my iPod, this story may not end for a while. It will end eventually, but not any time soon. Please enjoy this story and if you don't let me know and I will do my best to fix it, but it's gotten quite a bit of traffic so far, so we'll see._

_**Disclaimer: **__I still don't own anything in this story except for the plot and any OC's that may find their way in here, but I'm trying not to do that. I don't own R.A. Salvatore's __Legends of Drizzt Do'Urden__ either. Yes I mention it in the story. _

_**Inspiration: **__Size Matters- Natasha Bedingfeild_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble: Chapter 4_

_Size Matters_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

Iruka blinked…and blinked again. Kakashi had left and the school teacher was sitting alone, but it wasn't that fact that he was sitting alone that made him blink. It was the fact that Kakashi had actually been polite. The man was practically famous for his not caring about what other people thought, but he had been polite, well, as polite as Kakashi could possibly be. To Iruka, the man that he really didn't get along with, and the school teacher had a strange nagging suspicion that it had nothing to do with the threats that the Hokage had made that made Kakashi afraid in turn. His strange nagging suspicions usually knew what they were talking about.

There were thousands of ways that the little meeting could have gone, and what had happened was not one of the things that Iruka had been expecting. The Chunnin had expected Kakashi and him to fight and yell and argue for hours on end, and finally arrive at the conclusion that they had arrived at after a few minutes of Kakashi's thinking process. Iruka had been holding in any potential anger that may have been bubbling to the surface. Apparently, the man had done a good job of hiding it because Kakashi hadn't seemed to pick up on anything except for that one time where Iruka mentioned Genma as an excuse. It had worked rather well if he did say so himself.

Then there was the bow before he had left. The man had no right to be polite, but it was a rather nice change to his usual laid back and nonchalant attitude that usually got the silver-haired man in trouble with various clients and all of the Missions Room workers. No, they were not overly fond of Kakashi. In fact, many of them wished that he'd die on a mission and save them the trouble of having to chase the man down to get one measly report for a C-rank mission.

Kakashi also didn't seem like the type to go and visit his students in the hospital. Sure, Sasuke was his best friend's nephew, but he still didn't seem to be the type. Hell, Kakashi was known for his cold and callous nature…and his social awkwardness…and his reading habits in the public eye…and as White Fang's son…and Yellow Flash's student. Anyway, the point is that he's not the most sociable or the nicest person; he's not one to go and make a woman a meal when she goes on maternity leave. Iruka, on the other hand, would make a woman a meal. He was just that kind of guy.

Iruka finally sighed and decided not to worry over it too much. Maybe the man did have a sense of decency in him…or maybe he didn't want to have to suffer through Naruto yelling at him for being mean to 'his Iruka-sensei.' Whichever the reason, Iruka didn't care. He left the money for his three cups of coffee on the table and left the coffee shop. He was going to head home. He had cleaning to do after all.

The journey to the school teacher's house was punctuated by light conversations with some of his students' parents or fellow Chunnin, or being attacked by children he'd taught in the past just for old times' sake. The beautiful weather of the day was not lost on Iruka, unlike with one Kakashi Hatake, and he enjoyed the sun. Sure there was a lot of sun in Konoha, but they had just gotten over their rainy season, and it could rain in Konoha. The rain here was almost as bad as the sand storms of Suna, but only almost. Yes, getting caught in the storms was potentially fatal, but rain storms don't bury poor unsuspecting shinobi, but one does get caught in the mud from time to time.

The kiosks' business was in full swing by now and tourists and traders clogged the streets, making passage difficult. Iruka almost took to the rooftops, but ultimately decided against it. He didn't feel much of a need to hurry one way or the other. The leisurely pace seemed to have affected most of the population of the village as traffic didn't seem to be moving at a particularly fast pace. Iruka soon fell into the common tourists' habits; stop, look, watch the locals, window shop, and consider buying random objects from the roadside venders.

Iruka did eventually make it home, and he closed his door behind him with a sigh; he really wouldn't say it was one of relief, but it was so close it scared him. Iruka stood leaning against the wall for a good ten minutes; eyes closed, head leaned back, neck exposed. Then he decided to move. His chocolate orbs opened and he took stock of the chores he's need to do before the arrival of the lazy ass ninja that never handed his mission reports in on time. The living room needed to be cleaned; he couldn't really find the couch under all of the paperwork and throw blankets and pillows. Kitchen was fine; neat and tidy, everything in their places, the dishes had been washed and put away, the floors swept. Bathroom could probably stand to be touched. Guest room was fine, as well as the bedroom.

Iruka checked all of this in his head as he walked through the small, but comfortable house. He paused at the guest room and smiled. There were still touches of orange around the room; a blanket, a jacket on top of a pile of spare cloths, the closet door. Naruto still lived here occasionally and he left his mark wherever he went. If Kakashi didn't like orange, he could sleep on the couch…when Iruka got around to cleaning it off. Iruka closed the door and moved on, eventually ending up in his bathroom with his head under the sink. He had to get cleaners for what needed them; mostly glass cleaners for the large picture windows in the living and dining room.

The Chunnin then made his way to the living room. He'd start there. Papers were removed from the couch, blankets were folded and put in their places on the bookshelves to the back of the room, pillows were put on the pieces of furniture that they belonged on and what little dishes there were quickly moved to the sink one room over. Next, the vacuum was brought out and Iruka attacked the carpet viciously. The carpet really hadn't done anything wrong, but the vacuum had obviously decided that its very existence was a sin. Any dirt that had somehow made its way from the front door to the living room found itself in the noisy machine's filter, and popcorn kernels and toast crumbs followed reluctantly.

Soon the living room had been cleaned. What had once been a maze of papers and blankets and pillows and cups and DVD cases was now a homey room with beige walls, a tan leather couch and two brown lazy boy recliners. A polished red wood coffee table sat demurely in the center of the room with all of the stains made by various and sundry liquids worn proudly on its surface like a collection of battle scars. The fire place hadn't been used in a while, but it added to the overall effect. The glass of the large picture windows didn't look like it was there at all; the windows had been wiped free of Naruto's fingerprints and the blonde's cat's nose marks and smudges. The bookshelves had been straightened and the movies were all in the proper cases and places. The CDs were in their rack, quiet and unobtrusive until they were placed in the impressive stereo system that Iruka and Naruto had saved up for, for four years. The good ones didn't come cheap.

Next the man moved on to the bathroom. It really didn't need anything other than a light touch up. The sink needed to be washed, the toilet needed to be cleaned, shampoo arranged neatly on the shelf, medicine cabinet organized, magazine case arranged. It really didn't take long at all; 15 minutes tops.

Then Iruka moved to the kitchen to wash the few dishes that had moved from the living room to the kitchen sink. That took a grand total of five minutes, including drying them and putting them away.

Now Iruka had nothing to do; no rooms to clean, no papers to grade, no worksheets to plan, no lessons to type up. Instead of doing the usual, Iruka went over to the bookshelves and perused the multitude of books that he owned and used to make Naruto read but couldn't remember half of the titles. Two bookshelves later and he came across _The Legend of Drizzt Do'Urden _and picked up the first book, _Homeland._ He hadn't ever seen this book before which meant Naruto had gone out and bought it and its fellows and added it to the collection. The semi curious man moved slowly over to one of his recliners and sat down, making himself comfortable before opening the book to the prologue.

The man hadn't had any time to relax, much less read, since he had taken Naruto under his wing and he had forgotten how enjoyable it was. He'd forgotten what it was like to lose oneself in another world, to forget about one's own problems, to become engrossed in the main character's plight, to set out on an adventure without ever leaving the chair. Iruka lost himself in the pages, thoroughly enjoying the story line.

Silence wove itself through the room, taking up semi-permanent residence in the school teacher's house, and time treaded on silent feet through the room, stealing minutes away and putting hours in its customized backpack as it went. Soon, Iruka found himself sitting in a dark living room, straining to see the 10 pt font on the page. The man looked up and at the room, searching for the lights switch which just so happened to be on the other side of the room. Iruka groaned and pushed himself from the chair and stretched. The digital clock on the stove in the kitchen read 8:27 pm. He'd been reading for a good four hours, and he was tired.

Today was a day that Iruka could go to bed before 11 because he didn't have any papers to grade or rooms to clean and teams to assign, so Iruka decided to go to bed. He went through his evening routine and was soon in bed. He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Maybe today had been more exhausting than he had realized.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Iruka woke up at approximately 10: 14 am. That wasn't usual for the teacher and he immediately started panicking. The students would be all over the place. Other teachers would have to be balancing his class and their own class. A substitute would have to be called because he hadn't called in. What had happened? Had his power gone out? The man took a good look at his barely standing alarm clock. Nope power was fine. Had he gotten the time for the alarm right? Yes, but it wasn't turned on. Why wasn't it turned on? Today was a weekday and he had school to teach and the Missions' Room to sit in and- Ohhhh…right. Mission. He had to babysit Kakashi.

Iruka leaned back further into his pillow and let out a sigh of relief. He felt that he was entitled to one at this very moment. It wasn't everyday one got to feel relief at babysitting a grown man that just so happened to be the most irresponsible full grown man in the history of irresponsible full grown men. People usually felt relief after they realized they had been given the day off and weren't going to be late for work, not for being pulled off work and told to babysit your arch nemesis.

The man's right hand was resting on his forehead as if trying to press away his momentary lapse in memory. The hand slid down the man's face and came to rest above his heart as the head turned to look out the window. Iruka had to get up and get ready to have a guest in his home; a guest that was always late, that didn't keep himself very clean, well, at least his cloths, and was practically famous for his perverseness. Needless to say, Iruka was not waiting with baited breath for the arrival of said house guest. In fact, he was kind of dreading this afternoon, but he'd just have to grin and bear it. He'd signed up to take on the perverted ninja above the hyper pre-ninjas in training.

Finally Iruka got out of bed and moved around his room, picking up the clothes that he'd left on the floor and placing them in the hamper next to the dresser. Then he picked out his cloths and began putting them on. He slept naked, which is something that nobody knew about him, not even his previous lovers. He'd always worn pajama bottoms when they stayed over or visa versa. When he was finished he went to the kitchen to get his coffee. Then he sat down with the book that he had gotten half way through the previous evening and started reading again. He really enjoyed the book, and as long as he had free time, he may as well use it for something he enjoyed.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Aaaannndddd…There's chapter four. How'd you like it? This one came easier than the other Iruka chapter. Iruka's kinda hard for me to write. When I write Kakashi he kinda takes off, but Iruka is stubborn and hides in the corner of my mind and makes me do all the work instead of taking over my fingers. He's stubborn like that. Well, press the REVIEW button. Pretty please with a cherry on top? It makes writers happy._


	5. Rock N Roll Jesus

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Hey, it's me again! Guess what, I brought chapter five of __**Stumble**__ with me! I know, ya'll're so happy aren't you? -grins when ya'll nod- Yeah, that's what I thought. You all look incredibly ecstatic. Well, this will be from Kakashi's POV. He's so fun to write…and easy. I don't know what it is about these two, but Kakashi is definitely easier to write._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I still don't own Naruto, and I probably never will, so I've stopped hoping…at least for now._

_**Inspiration: **__Rock 'N' Roll Jesus- Kid Rock _

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble Chapter 4:_

_Rock N Roll Jesus_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

Drip…Drip…Drip…Drip…Tickdrip…tickdrip…tickdrip…Ah, gods damn it, shut off the damn tap! Kakashi groaned as he rolled over. He hated when the faucet did this. Half the time it conspired with the clock to be overly annoying in the morning, ticking and dripping in time with one another, and generally being far too noisy to be good for anyone's health. The man grumbled and groaned in his head, still trying to block the annoying noises and complaining about the horrible crick in his neck…Wait, why could he hear the faucet? Kakashi opened his eyes a crack and looked around the room. He was in the living room/kitchenette/entry way/dining room. That's why he could hear the faucet and the ticking clock. The one in his bedroom didn't tick because, more often than not, the ticking kept him awake. That would also explain the crick. He was sleeping on the couch, which wasn't really all that good for long term sleeping; napping good, other forms of sleep, bad.

The silver-haired man pushed himself off the couch and groaned again. His head was pounding which was strange because he hadn't drunk anything the night before. Maybe it was one of those 'I slept far too much and now my head is rebelling' type of headaches. The man had leaned forward and rested his head in his hands for a good 15 minutes before the pug otherwise known as Pakkun trotted happily into the room and settled himself smugly before his master.

"You gods damned dogs," Kakashi glared at his nin-ken acidly. "You all slept in my bed last night, didn't you?"

"Yes, but if you wouldn't have passed out after eating then you would have slept in your bed and we would have slept on top of you," Pakkun informed Kakashi with little remorse. "Now, if you don't mind, we would like our breakfast."

As Pakkun informed his master of their, meaning his and the other dogs', wishes the other six dogs filed into the too small living space and waiting impatiently for the sore man to get up and head to the kitchen for their bowls and the dog food that was stored in the cupboard to the right of the stove. Kakashi stood up and moved stiffly to said kitchen and got the dogs their meal, grumbling all the while about 'stupid dogs thinkin' they own the place and how they need to learn their place in the world and wake him up if he falls asleep on the couch at night' and the like. As he moved to fill the bowls one at a time he pressed the ON button of his new coffee maker. He knew he had filled it before he left for the meeting with Iruka and, sure enough, the apartment was soon filled with the scent of strong coffee.

Wait. Iruka. What time was it? The jonin looked over at the clock on the stove. It was digital and, therefore, took less work to decipher than the annoying ticking clock before his third cup of coffee. The clock read 3:47 pm…SHIT!! Kakashi jumped as he remembered what he was supposed to have done after he ate last night. He was supposed to pack and be ready to move his stuff into his temporary roommate's house and he was going to be late. There was no way he was leaving his house the way it was. It was a mess. Not to mention he still needed to pack.

Kakashi sighed and leaned back against the counter and waited for his coffee to brew. No sense rushing when you're already late. That very idea is what got him into most of the trouble he'd ever gotten into, but he firmly ignored that and continued to stand in his kitchen with the sounds of the seven dogs eating right next to him filling the background. The coffee pot finished brewing and Kakashi poured himself a cup before heading to his bedroom to pack.

The man moved through his apartment lethargically, randomly throwing what he thought he should bring to Iruka's into one of his two bags. When that was finished he went through his apartment again, picking up messes; a book placed on the shelf here, a pillow there, a pile of clothes moved to the hamper, the dishes were washed and put into the dish rack. No vacuum made an appearance and the man didn't bother washing the windows or making his bed. His dogs would be living here anyway, and he'd have to come by everyday to feed them and take them out and all that shit that comes with being a pet owner, even if the pets are strictly for work.

By the time he had finished making the small living space more presentable it was well past five, almost six in fact, so the man picked up his bags, one over each shoulder, looked at his dogs-explaining where he was going and when he may be back and that he was taking Pakkun- walked out of the apartment and locked it behind him. Making sure all of his traps were in place, he finally felt his shelter was secure which meant he could leave.

The copy-nin stood up and left the building and was about half a mile away from home when he realized that he had no clue where Iruka lived. The man rolled his eyes at his own forgetfulness and turned to his nin-dog. "Pakkun, you know the man I went to see yesterday at the coffee shop? Well, did you happen to pick up his scent because it just occurred to me that I forgot to get his address?"

Pakkun looked at his master and sighed, "If all humans are as stupid as you are its no wonder you all need dogs to get along. If you didn't have me, you'd be screwed. Yes, I know his scent, and, yes, I'll lead you to him, but next time, don't forget." That said, Pakkun lead the late shinobi to the home of Iruka.

Kakashi knocked on the door. He figured that he'd be polite and do things normally this time instead of coming through the window or transporting himself into the middle of Iruka's living room because, one, he was late, two he really wanted to keep his limbs and other parts of his anatomy that would be rather unpleasant to have removed. Iruka would be mad enough that it was already pushing seven and the silver-haired man was just showing up, he didn't need to get dirt in his carpet to top it all off.

The door opened and an angry looking Iruka stood on the other side. The chocolate colored man glared at Kakashi. If looked could kill, Kakashi would be a man hanging from a delicate and melting spider's web above the flames of hell ready to plunge head first to his eternal suffering*.

"Maa, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi began, smiling and reaching up to scratch the back of his head in his trademark pose, "sorry I'm late. I fell asleep on my couch and my dogs didn't wake me up until they got hungry and I had to clean my house and pack and I realized I didn't ask you for your addre…"

"Yeah, uh-huh," Iruka said disbelievingly. "Just get in here before I kill you." It only makes sense that the one time Kakashi was telling the truth, he wasn't believed.

"If you're going to kill me, I'd much rather stand out here where there are witnesses," Kakashi smiled sweetly, his eye curved upwards and his head tilted to the side.

Iruka glared again, but he blinked and looked down abruptly as Pakkun decided to take the man up on his offer and walked into the house between Iruka's legs. The school teacher looked back up at Kakashi and blinked before saying, "You brought a dog?"

"Yeah, but he's the only one. Plus, I needed him to find you. I really didn't know where you lived so that part was completely true. Anyway, I'll have to go home and feed my dogs and let them out every day." Kakashi stood on the threshold while Iruka blocked the door. Iruka looked back at Pakkun briefly in question before receiving and affirmative.

"The rest of his excuse is completely true as well. We dogs took over his bed," Pakkun was making himself completely comfortable on Iruka's newly cleaned couch.

"Hey, I'd hate to interrupt, but am I going to sleep on your porch or am I allowed in the house?" Kakashi inquired innocently and tilted his head again.

"Oh, right," Iruka hurriedly moved aside to let the other man into his house. Kakashi toed off his shoes and pushed them semi-neatly against the wall where Iruka's shoes were and looked around the house. Iruka was either a neat freak or he had cleaned his house extremely well before Kakashi had arrived.

"Ok, tour time," Iruka clapped and led Kakashi through the house. "Kitchen, living room, dining room," he gestured to each as they passed and led the man down the hall, "bathroom, guest room, my room. Naruto used to use the guest room, and still does periodically, so the comforter's orange; so is the closet door. I'm warning you so you're not blinded as soon as you walk in the room. If you don't like it in there, you can sleep on the couch."

"Thanks," Kakashi said and walked into the room. Sure enough, the closet door and comforter were orange, but Kakashi didn't mind. His entire team when he was younger had liked bright colors and he'd slept over at all of their houses more than once. Obito's room had been the craziest.

"Dinner will be ready soon. I'll come get you if you want to unpack or you can put your bags down and hang out it the living room. I don't care either way," Iruka said from the door way.

Kakashi turned around to let the man know he acknowledged him. "'Kay, I'll unpack."

Iruka left for what Kakashi presumed was the kitchen and heard Pakkun start speaking and Iruka respond. Great, they were talking. Kakashi turned back to the room and began to unpack, placing his cloths in the dresser and his books on the shelf and his movies and CDs on top of the dresser. Then he went out to the living room and saw the multitude of books; at least three bookshelves worth. He ran his eyes over the spines; Eddings, Weis and Hickman, Salvatore, Paolini, Shakespeare, Poe, Duncan, Chaucer, Tolkien. All writers he enjoyed immensely.

"Oh," there was a noise from the living room's entry way, "I was just coming to get you. Dinner's ready so if you'll follow me." Kakashi put the book he had been holding back in its place and turned to follow Iruka. As he passed the nearest recliner he saw the second book to the _Legends of Drizzt Do'Urden _series, _Exile_, lying haphazardly on the seat of the chair. The book showed signs of having been read recently. Maybe he and Iruka would get along better than he had originally thought.

Dinner was a silent affair in which Kakashi had scarfed his food down before his dinner partner could see his face and Iruka had yelled at him for his poor table manners. After dinner came the cleaning up. Kakashi didn't like the cleaning up. Iruka had put the food away and now he was washing dishes and he had assigned Kakashi the job of drying the dishes so they could put them away. Later, putting them away would also be Kakashi's job, but as he had yet to learn where everything belonged, they'd do it together.

"I really don't see why I have to dry the dishes," Kakashi began after a few minutes of the sounds of water splashing and dishes clinking filling the air around them. "If you just leave them out they'll dry themselves. It's this wonderful thing called evaporation."

"That's nice, but this is how I do things in my kitchen," Iruka smiled and handed Kakashi another rinsed dish.

"Why?"

"Because I don't want to have to come back and put them away later," Iruka replied.

"Why?" Kakashi dried the dish and placed it in the stack.

"Because I have a life that doesn't only consist of cleaning," Iruka handed the silver-haired man another dish.

"Why?"

"What are you, three?" Iruka snapped.

"No. I'm 28."

"Then why are you asking me all of these stupid questions?"

"I am asking questioned because I am curious," Kakashi looked at Iruka calmly and dries the plate that had been handed to him.

"Only three year olds ask 'why' at the end of answers to their previous questions," Iruka angrily pulled the plug on the drain, allowing the water to escape the sink basin.

"Nuh-uh. Naruto does all the time," Kakashi replied as he picked up the frying pans that had been used for preparing the meal they had eaten and looked at Iruka inquiringly.

Iruka pointed at the cupboard under the toaster. "Well, he can't help it that he's curious."

Kakashi opened the cupboard and put the pans inside, briefly marveling at the cleanliness even hidden away from the naked eye before replying, "Well, neither can I."

This continued until almost 10 pm. Pakkun had added his input at random intervals until he had fallen asleep around 9:30, adding his snores to the two shinobis' pointless argument. Eventually the two men decided to call a temporary truce and go to bed. Kakashi made his way to the room that he'd be calling home for a while and fell into the bed. It was a comfortable bed, but it wasn't his bed, nor was the room his room. Pakkun came in and nestled himself to the left of Kakashi's head, just like every other night, but it still wasn't his bed or his room. He usually wouldn't have any trouble falling asleep, but he knew he'd have to get used to this house, but he didn't fall asleep right away.

Every pop of the plumbing and every creak of a floor board would make him snap his eyes open on full alert before he realized that there was no threat. Needless to say, he really didn't sleep well that first night. Instead he fell into his mission sleep; he was barely asleep, just enough for him to get the rest his body needed, but awake enough to be able to stand at attention at a moment's notice. Pakkun, on the other hand, had no such reservations. The small pug slept soundly through the night, almost drowning out the strange and random nuances of the new house with his snores, but only almost.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Well, there you have it. Love it? Hate it? Want me to write more? Well, let me know. I like reviews. I know these chapters are coming out extremely fast right now, but don't get used to it. I have no life right now, but that all will change in about a week, so I'm trying to get as many of these chapters out as I can. I like writing this story. Well, yeah, review. Pwetty pwease with a cherwy on top? Thank you. –smiles-_

_*This line was kinda based on the sermon __**Sinners in the Hands of and Angry God**__ by Jonathon Edwards. We're reading it in Lit and it kinda seemed to accurately describe what Iruka wants to happen to Kakashi. Yeah._


	6. Dead Wrong

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Hello, my readers, and visitors and new comers and reviewers and…yeah. You get the picture. Well, I've been sick and I haven't felt up to writing. Instead I've been catching up on my FMA, and I'm sorry for not updating sooner than this, but c'est la vie. In case y'all don't know what that means, it kinda sorta translates to 'That's Life.' I've also been in Canada for a few days; school trip and all. It was great. My friends and I are now the Poultry Mafia Family, and my friend Kan is Godmother. It's great. Anyway…_

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Naruto or Kakashi or Iruka. I'm merely borrowing them for a short time. Plus, if I owned Naruto, do you think I'd be writing this? No, of course not. It wouldn't be appropriate for young children either._

_**Inspiration: **__Dead Wrong- The Wrong_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble: Chapter 6_

_Dead Wrong_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

Iruka didn't fall asleep as Kakashi had most definitely done by now. In fact, he lay in bed for a long time staring at the ceiling and trying to fall asleep with the strange presence in his house. Sure, he knew it was Kakashi, but it still didn't dispel the fact that the presence was strange. The man had a very odd, almost off-putting presence when he slept. It was almost as if he were having a nightmare or on a mission, always on alert, but trying hard not to show it. His energy seemed to be having a hard time find peace in the strange surroundings that he found himself in. It was understandable. As far as Iruka was concerned, Kakashi had every right to be on guard. Naruto had told Iruka some things about Kakashi and one of the things he had been told was that Kakashi usually needed some sort of loose schedule. Despite all of his chaotic nature, there was a method to his madness.

The dog Kakashi had brought with him was snoring. The snores could be heard even through two closed doors and they caused Iruka to smile. At least somebody was getting sleep. The dog would probably get enough sleep for the three of them. The dog had been very helpful earlier, answering questions for Iruka. Without Pakkun, Iruka would never had found out that Kakashi liked music and that he read more than porn and that there was actually a heart behind his uncaring façade. The man actually cared about what happened to people he cared about and that he tried not to get too close to anyone because everyone he had ever gotten close to in his life had ended up dead. Unfortunately, that was as far as Iruka was able to get because Pakkun had promptly shut up, saying something about 'having said too much already.'

Iruka didn't know much about training animals, but he did know that they had a tendency to be completely honest. Animals didn't see the point in beating around the bush. They got right to the point and had no qualms about the consequences. If Pakkun had the honest nature of most, not including the ravens and the jackals, animals, then what he had said about Kakashi would be completely true, which would mean that Iruka would have to completely redraw his picture of Kakashi. All of this redrawing would have to happen over the time the silver haired man was in his home, and Iruka wasn't looking forward to it. Iruka usually knew what he was talking about when he based relationships on first impressions and Kakashi's hadn't been a very good one. Apparently, according to the dog that lived with Kakashi and had been raised by the man, the Copy Nin was a very good actor and had fooled everyone for the majority of his life.

The chocolate colored man sighed and rolled over to face the door to his bedroom, back to the nearly full moon outside his window, casting its cold light on the world for the short period of time it was allotted, and continued his train of thought. After his conversation with Kakashi after dinner, he could see some of the act clearly. The man had mastered his act to be immature and irresponsible and lacksidasical, but that act, that carefully constructed mask, had cracked slightly, had probably been cracking and eroding for months, maybe years, now. His true nature had shown through, if only slightly, when he had put the frying pans away; his eyes revealing how much he disliked having to act and how much he distrusted his fellow man enough to drop all pretenses and how much he loathed himself for everything he had done and everything that he been done to him. Looking back on it, it was completely clear and the teacher couldn't believe he'd missed it when it happened.

Did the man always hide that from everybody, or was that a recent development? Was Kakashi really hurting that much? Had anyone else seen what he'd seen? Had he even seen what he thought he'd seen? All of these questions whirled through Iruka's head at once, shattering every image the younger man had had about the world famous man. All the illusions that Kakashi had worked so hard to instill in everybody's mind had melted away in the mind of the school teacher, leaving a clean slate; a fresh piece of paper for new conclusions to be drawn upon, and Iruka was going to make sure that this time, Kakashi's image wouldn't be tainted by illusions and first impressions, but the time that they were, more or less, being forced to spend with one another. Tomorrow they'd start fresh; loathing each other and living together were hardly conductive to living, in any case. It was a completely logical course of action, given the circumstances.

At least, that's how Iruka justified it. After all, it was too early to tell what was going to happen in the future, and there was no need to make this anymore unpleasant than it had to be. It was quite obvious to anyone who may or may not have been listening to Iruka's thoughts that he was beginning to have feelings for the silver haired man in the other room and that he was simply in denial about said feelings, but as nobody could possibly be listening to the chocolate man's thoughts, nobody could tell him that he was in denial, and Iruka continued to believe his need to get to know the Copy nin was the need to make this mission go as smoothly as possible.

That is more or less where sleep finally pounced on Iruka and any further thought would just have to take a number and wait until morning because sleep he started it benevolent dictatorship over the man's exhausted mind.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Iruka woke the next morning to a highly unusual presence moving through the main part of his home and his first thought was there had been a breach in the security of the village and the intruder had come here to get information. After all, a Chunnin working in the missions room had to have information on all of the shinobi in the village and all of the pass codes to the vaults and who would be in when and who wouldn't and where all the higher ups lived. Who wouldn't want to start with someone who really couldn't fight back? Then he heard Kakashi's voice talking to Pakkun and he relaxed instantly. It wasn't some intruder, just a really annoying jonin. Nix that; Iruka was trying to build a new image of the man, not condemn him prematurely.

The school teacher pushed himself out of bed quietly and moved to pick up a pair of pajama bottoms that he had taken out last night before he had gone to bed. The jonin didn't need to know all about Iruka on the first day and he had managed to keep it a secret for years. Nobody needed to know what he did at home anyway. The pants firmly in place on the man's hips, Iruka felt it safe to exit the sanctuary of his bedroom. As soon as he opened the door, the scent of coffee assaulted his senses as well as eggs and toast. The teacher knew he shouldn't be surprised considering the other man lived alone and couldn't eat take away all the time, but he was. Who knew Kakashi could cook anything, even if it was something as simple as eggs.

By now Iruka had made it to the kitchen and was pleasantly surprised to see and covered plate and a mug for coffee sitting on the counter, waiting for him. This caused the man to smile and he lifted the cover and found a still warm omelet and one and a half pieces of toast topped with grape jam on the plate. The stupidly smiling man moved around the kitchen, pulling a fork out of the silverware drawer and pouring himself a cup of coffee, which, after a taste, was quite delicious. Iruka picked up the plate as he passed the counter and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room where he found Kakashi happily pouring over his book collection like a young child over a candy store, cup of coffee in hand. Right now he was holding _Domes of Fire_ by David Eddings. The man appeared to be half way through the book already.

"Good morning," Iruka said quietly as he moved to sit in the recliner he had abandoned yesterday.

Kakashi looked up and blinked a few times before realizing that Iruka was sitting in front of him. Recognition suddenly lit up his eyes and he grunted in recognition before turning back to the book that he had picked up.

"Kakashi," Iruka began, "would you pull your nose out of the book long enough to listen to me for maybe five minutes?"

"Sure," Kakashi marked his place in the pages with his finger and turned his full attention to the man happily sipping on the surprisingly good coffee. "Speak."

"I'm not a dog, Kakashi," Iruka admonished the man before continuing. "Last night I was thinking, and I have decided that maybe we should start over. We've both made judgments about each other without really having any idea about the other and viewing each other through tinted lenses is not really conductive to living together. It just causes problems later, ones that could be disastrous, and I'd rather not have that happen." Iruka stopped and just watched Kakashi. The teacher had said all that he'd needed to say and now Kakashi just had to respond.

The silver haired man looked at Iruka thoughtfully for a good five minutes more. His mismatched stare was rather unnerving, but Iruka didn't let any of this show as he waited for the man's response. Yes, they had their differences, and, yes, they were both to stubborn to change, but trying to get to know each other was a two sided effort. Finally the silence was broken and Iruka release the breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

"Nobody's ever given me the time of day, much less a chance to prove their first assumptions incorrect. Why are you?" Kakashi had turned away from the book case he was sitting in front of and was facing the man in the recliner who was by now eating the food Kakashi had prepared, which had turned out surprisingly delicious.

Iruka looked at Kakashi, staring straight into his eyes. "Everybody deserves to be known by someone and you're no different. You're human, aren't you?"

Kakashi blinked stupidly at Iruka. The look in his eyes wasn't entirely what Iruka had been expecting. I was playful, joking; honest. "What if I weren't human? What if I was an elf or an Idra? Would you still care?"

Iruka laughed. Kakashi really wasn't like the first impressions he gave off. "Yes, I'd still care. _Everybody_ deserves to have someone care about them, even if they're an elf or and Idra or a dwarf or a Halfling or a drow."

"Well, then, most gracious Iruka, I accept your offer," Kakashi bowed slightly and picked up the cup of coffee he had set down and raised it in mock salute. This caused Iruka to roll his eyes. Kakashi just laughed again and went back to reading the book he had in his hands. "Damn it. You made me lose my place."

Iruka chuckled and finished his meal off and set the plate on the coffee table. "Can we play a game of Twenty Questions or do you want to read your book?" Iruka looked at the childish Hatake.

Kakashi's eyes slowly rose from the page and met the chocolate colored orbs a short distance away. "Do we each get twenty questions?"

"Yes."

"Do we have to answer all of the questions?"

"Yes, but they don't have to be a 'who, what, when, where, why' type thing. A simple answer will suffice."

Kakashi averted his eyes slightly, nodded and book marked his page. The book was set aside with a reverence that was not lost on Iruka and their eyes met again. "You first. You're the host."

"Alright, how would you describe yourself? I don't want the façade that everybody else sees either. I want how you really are." Kakashi raised his eyebrow and Iruka responded, "It's no use building a relationship on lies and illusions."

Kakashi nodded quickly. "Well, first off, nobody's ever been able to tell that I'm acting, so, congratulations, and secondly you're completely right. Ok, I am always late, that's hereditary and can't be helped. I like books, dogs, music, acid trip movies, and guys. Despite what the rest of the village thinks, I am not straight and I just wanted to get that out before I said anything else. I am lazy and nothing will ever change that, but I do have a method to my madness and everything usually gets done, albeit a bit late. Not really into talking, socializing, or clubbing, and I don't like young children. When you can actually have an adult conversation with them is when they're tolerable."

Iruka looked at the man silently. It was obvious there was more.

"I don't only read porn; I'm actually a very educated man. I like Eddings and Chaucer and Shakespeare, but if I read those in public people would start talking to me. I just would rather stay in the background. I am actually a pervert, but not quite as blatantly as I act. I blame sensei for that, though. I like coffee; not tea. Tea sucks and whoever invented it should die a slow and painful death. It always smells better than it tastes." There was silence for a few moments. "That's about it."

"Ok. It's your turn to ask me a question," Iruka accepted the man's explanation of himself easily.

"Um…" that seemed to be Kakashi's favorite word. "Did you always want to be an academy teacher?"

"No. In fact, I've always thought being an academy teacher was quite depressing. You are teaching children to go out and kill, after all. I became a teacher when Naruto was old enough to enter in the academy. I wanted to keep an eye on him. He's never had an easy life and school didn't need to be any tougher than it should. He and his class was a handful. Horrible. The worst class I have ever taught. They're the most talented, but they couldn't follow directions worth shit."

"You're turn," Kakashi smiled slightly.

"How long have you been gay?" Iruka's curiosity surfaced in a rush.

Kakashi chuckled. "I don't know, since I was 13, maybe. I don't remember exactly. It might have been earlier. People usually start to realize it then unless you're in denial." Kakashi paused to think of his question before continuing. "Why do you care about the boy that holds the very thing that destroyed your family?"

"Because Naruto isn't Kyuubi. He's a misunderstood boy that just wants to be loved. He just wants a family and someone to turn to when he's scared. Unfortunately, there are more people in this world looking for love than there are willing to give it. Naruto's just a boy who was unfortunately born on the night of Kyuubi's attack. If it hadn't been him, it would have been someone else and I would have taken them in as well." Iruka shrugged. "Why do you?"

"My sensei put too much of his chakra into making sure his son would stay alive and be able to contain Kyuubi. I won't let his sacrifice go to waste. You just happen to be more of a father than I could possibly be. I tried, but he doesn't like me much."

"Have you tried being yourself?" Iruka asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Nope. Sakura would send me to the hospital immediately for an unstable psyche, and I'd be committed just like that," the silver haired man snapped for emphasis.

"Why would you be committed?"

"People have often described my generation of Team 7 as being insane. Mostly because we were willing to try anything at least once, and if it failed, it failed. Apparently that makes us mentally unstable." There was another pause. "By the way, you just asked me three questions in a row."

"I realized this, yes," Iruka replied and he looked out the window. "You have the right to ask me three in a row, as well. It's only fair."

"I don't have anything more to ask you today, maybe later, but I haven't had enough coffee yet," Kakashi picked up his cup and stood to go to the kitchen. The silver haired man picked up Iruka's plate and cup before asking, "Would you like another cup of coffee? I could get it while I'm in there."

"Yes, please. That would be great."

Kakashi gave his trade mark smile and turned to the kitchen. Iruka watched him carefully. Kakashi was obviously just as he described himself, even if he'd left things out. Iruka suddenly felt very guilty for judging Kakashi without any base of proof. Kakashi was really a kind man; not at all like he'd been perceived by the rest of the village. Iruka liked the hidden Kakashi; he would even go so far as to say he'd be able to befriend it…but He didn't know everything about it yet. He still had a long ways to go.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Well, at long last, here's chapter six. The inspiration for this chapter took a long time to find and then I couldn't get the words to flow right, but it's finally done and now you can tell me how I did. Press the REVIEW button. I like the feedback. It makes me really happy to know that people actually enjoy what I write. Thanks for taking the time to read this._


	7. Slipping Masks

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__I am amazing. No sooner had I posted Chapter 6 did the inspiration for the next chapter start playing on my iPod. Unfortunately, was 2:00 in the morning and my fingers weren't listening to my brain anymore and I had to write it later. Sadly, later took forever to get here and all of my readers are probably ready to kill me for making them wait this long for the next chapter. So, without further ado, I give you Chapter 7…_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I still don't own Naruto, so stop asking!!!_

_**Inspiration: **__I've Got A Dark Alley and a Bad Idea That says You Should Shut Your Mouth- Fall Out Boy (pretty long inspiration if you ask me, but you didn't so I don't know why I'm telling you?)_

_**PS:**__ In the last chapter, the Inspiration was by The Fray, not The Wrong…I don't even know if the wrong is a band…_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble: Chapter 7:_

_Slipping Masks  
_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

Kakashi stood in the kitchen by the coffee pot, his hands each wrapped around their own mugs that were waiting to be filled. He could honestly say that he had no clue as to what was going through Iruka's head. First it was 'get your ass in here so I can kill you in privacy,' and now it was 'let's get to know each other better because it'd be stupid to live together while plotting each other's deaths.' Kakashi was completely lost, but pleasantly surprised as well. Nobody had cared enough about him since his genin days; he simply wasn't important enough to pay any mind to. Now somebody was willing to give a second chance and he was left floundering in the deep end, so to speak.

A sigh was released and Kakashi went about his business filling up the coffee mugs and taking them back to the living room. He handed Iruka his mug and then took his place back on the floor to read his book.

"You are allowed on the furniture, you know," Iruka looked at the silver haired man in amusement. Kakashi made eye contact, and, to be quite frank, he looked slightly like a happy puppy; his eyes had a completely innocent look to them. It was purely unintentional.

"What? You expected to have to sit on the floor for the duration of your stay in my home? I'm not that cruel, but if you happen to jump on the furniture, you _will_ have to sit on the floor," Iruka took a sip of his coffee and shifted in his chair.

Kakashi chuckled and stood up, moving over to the couch. He noticed right away that it wasn't as comfortable as his couch. The silver haired man shook his head before resuming the novel in his hand.

The rest of the day passed in silence, each man content to sit and read his book, only stopping to get more coffee, or to make a new pot or to grab some food. Despite the habit each man had of fighting with the other, they managed not to kill each other on the first official day of living together…

Or the day after that…

Or the day after that…

Or the day after that, and so on and so forth. Now, two weeks later, neither man had died, but that didn't stop them from threatening castration or each other's lives, but really, one needs to get one's priorities straight.

"'Ruka-chan!" Kakashi called from the kitchen. "what do you want on your sandwich?"

"Call me 'Ruka-chan' one more time and I'm going to castrate you, Hatake," Iruka yelled back from the bathroom. He was currently giving Kakashi's dogs a much needed bath. The man had taken it upon himself to see to the personal hygiene of the silver haired man's dogs and said silver haired man had no clue as to why. They'd been getting along fine on a bath once a month; now Iruka made them bathe every weekend. Iruka had suddenly decided this after Kakashi had decided it would be fun to summon his dogs to Iruka's before the Chunnin woke up.

_("What are your dogs doing in my living room?" Iruka screeched at the silver haired man that was his guest; it's not OK to kill one's guests. Well, at least, Iruka thought he was screeching at Kakashi. The man wasn't visible, but Iruka could tell he was there all the same._

"_I missed them."_

_Kakashi's voice came from beneath the dogs. Beneath the dogs… It took several minutes for Iruka to process that little bit of information. Then Kakashi's reply filtered through his sleep fogged brain._

"_You missed them…"Iruka repeated, still not sure which direction he should be addressing._

_Kakashi merely grunted in affirmation. There were several minutes of silence before Iruka started chuckling._

"_Kakashi, why are your dogs all on top of you?" the chocolate man asked._

"_Because they missed me," Kakashi still sounded muffled, "and I was cold."_

"_You were…cold…"_

"_Yep."_

_Then Iruka started laughing hysterically. It wasn't everyday one got to see __**THE**__ Kakashi Hatake buried by his own dogs. Iruka doubted anyone else had seen it. The chocolate haired man fell to the ground clutching his sides and wheezing in what air he could grab before it forced itself out in short spurts of a melodic, slightly maniacal laugh._

_Kakashi forced his dogs to move and looked at the laughing school teacher. Bull was still sitting on his owner's back and Kakashi finally understood the hilarity of the situation. The silver haired man laughed with Iruka until they could no longer breathe properly and they lapsed into an amused silence._

"_Kakashi, they need a bath," Iruka finally broke the silence and all of the dogs moved away from the suddenly serious man._

_They weren't sure how to handle that. Bath day wasn't for another two weeks…)_

"I was just wondering what you'd like on your sandwich. No need to castrate me for that," Kakashi pouted, even though Iruka couldn't see it.

"Quit pouting, and you already know what I like on my sandwiches, so don't give me that shit!" the always psychic Iruka yelled back, accidentally scrubbing Bull's back too harshly. The teacher apologized profusely at the dog's pitiful whine and Kakashi chuckled from the kitchen.

Yes, he did know exactly what Iruka wanted on his sandwich, but that didn't mean he didn't want to start a conversation with the temperamental teacher. Iruka was always fun to argue with. Anyway, Kakashi now knew a lot about the 'saintly' school teacher. Things like the fact that Iruka wasn't as neat and tidy as everyone was lead to believe, and the teacher often swore profusely at his students' poor attempt at grammar. The man sometimes walked around without his clothes on _(he'd done that __**once**__ early on because he'd forgotten Kakashi was in his house. It had never happened again. Kakashi was still waiting)_. The teacher took his coffee black with two scoops of sugar. He loved classic novels. He loved Kakashi's dogs no matter how often he cursed their shedding habits. He liked cooking and reading and organizing things _(he'd once organized Kakashi's dresser and book shelf)_.

The school teacher also loved a good debate. Half of their evenings were spent discussing a book they both had read and debating on whether or not the finer points of the written work were actually literary genius or if they were just too cliché. They usually arrived at the latter conclusion. Every piece of literature they had read had much the same plot structure as every other piece of literature, so there was nothing new that could be contributed to the literary world and so on and so forth.

Kakashi liked talking to Iruka. The man didn't belittle his intelligence, not even a little, unlike some people he knew. Sure, they didn't know they were, but nobody expected him to be the bookish type. Yes, he was a genius, and, yes, he was a jonin by 15, but everybody expected that genius to be for fighting and fighting only. But not Iruka. Kakashi found it refreshing. Kakashi stood in the doorway to the kitchen for a few more seconds listening to his dogs getting their weekly bath and couldn't help but chuckle again. He had to admit they smelled a lot better with the weekly baths then they had before.

The silver haired man turned back into the kitchen and went to the counter where all of the sandwich making stuff was located and he got to work on Iruka's sandwich. Bread, mustard, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, ham, a slice of Swiss cheese, and the other piece of bread, in that order. Iruka was very picky about which order his sandwich was made in, just like his tacos. Kakashi could honestly say he'd never heard of tacos before he's met Iruka; the man had probably brought it with him from wherever his family had come from. They were good, but they were weird.

"'Ruka-chan! Do you want your sandwich now or do you want to wait 'til you're done with the dogs?" Kakashi called down the hall.

"What did I tell you about calling me Ruka-chan?" Silence and a yelping whine. "When do you think I want my sandwich, you stupid ass?"

"Language, sensei," Kakashi admonished. "I'm not a stupid ass, I'm a smart ass and your sandwich will be waiting for you on the counter," Kakashi called back, making himself his own sandwich. Kakashi could just hear the chocolate colored school teacher rolling his eyes. Yes, Kakashi loved provoking the school teacher. He got riled up so easily.

Kakashi took a bite of his lunch and walked down the hall to watch Iruka wash his dogs. The jonin leaned up against the door frame and let his eyes wander over the scene before him. Iruka was kneeling next to the bath tub, shirt off, hair up in a messy slut bun1, baggy pajama pants around his waist, scrubbing at the dog in the tub. Kakashi smirked and enjoyed the show of muscled rippling beneath smooth chocolate skin. It wasn't everyday one saw the saintly Chunnin looking not-so-saintly. In fact, the man looked like he'd had good sex the night before. Kakashi had always liked that look on people…especially if he was the cause.

Iruka paused and pulled one of his hands away from the sopping animal to wipe some water off his face that had been splashed there by the thrashing animal. He finally took notice of Kakashi in the door way and the look Kakashi was giving him and raised his eyebrow threateningly. Nobody who saw that look ever wanted to make the Chunnin angry, but Kakashi wasn't everybody else, so he decided to ignore his survival instincts and do whatever he bloody well pleased when in the Chunnin's home.

Well, anything within reason. Kakashi would not, for example, throw a party exclusively for the jonin in the Chunnin's house. That would just be suicidal and Iruka would be sure to find a way to bring him back to clean up the mess his friends had made, or he'd wait until after everything was cleaned up to kill Kakashi, but that was neither here nor there. What was here and there was Kakashi's response to said threatening glare and the words that came with it.

"What do you want, Kakashi?" Iruka asked in a deceptively sweet voice that didn't match the look he was throwing the jonin.

"Well, we could start off with dinner and a movie and we'll see where we go from there," Kakashi's mouth decided to take off without the permission from his brain. Upon further thought on the matter, Kakashi's brain decided that it was a good idea and that it wholeheartedly agreed with the mouth's decision, despite the possibility that they may not be around to lament the decision should the choice prove disastrous. So, with his whole being suddenly agreed on the course of action, the silver haired pervert tuned in to hear Iruka's response.

All he really heard was a lot of silence…and Iruka was gaping. He looked kind of like a fish. The silence stretched further and Kakashi took it as a bad sign. He shook his head and went to leave the bathroom door.

"Never mind, sorry, forget I mentioned it," Kakashi mumbled and continued his hasty retreat.

"I never said no. I was just in shock," Iruka said softly.

Kakashi stopped and turned to the other man. "Really? You'd actually do it?"

"Sure. When and where?" the school teacher continued his bath giving and waited for the strange jonin to answer. Said strange jonin was standing at the door doing a little happy dance in his mind. He'd have to follow his impulses more often.

"Um…Tomorrow night? It's Friday, right?... Sevenish for the movie and dinner afterwards. Neither of us have anything to do, really. Does that work for you?" Kakashi asked kind of awkwardly. It felt strange asking someone on a date when in their apartment…and living with them for an undetermined amount of time.

"Why not go tonight?" Iruka pushed a viciously squirming dog into the tub as the other one jumped out and went to find a defensible position.

"I'm taking Naruto, Sasuke and Sai out for dinner, so they can get to know each other better. Sasuke and Naruto will have no problem with that, but Sai's socially awkward and needs all the help he can get," Kakashi explained as he stepped aside to allow the wet dog to escape the confines of the smallish bathroom.

Iruka nodded and the conversation stopped. Inner Kakashi was running around in circles and screaming at the top of his lungs. It was a strange feeling for the Copy-Nin. He'd never really looked forward to a date so much that he was worried about screwing it up. Hell, he'd never cared what other people thought before, but Iruka seemed to be different. A few more minutes passed before Iruka snapped his head up and whipped it around to look at Kakashi.

Kakashi raised his head slowly in response to the frantic action. "Yes, 'Ruka-chan?"

Iruka glared briefly, but let it slide in favor of saying, "You just asked me out?"

Kakashi nodded. "Aren't we a little slow today."

"Shut up or you'll lose your chance to take me out," Iruka chuckled lightly as Kakashi pushed his lips together tightly. "It just really didn't hit me until now that I'd accepted to go on a date with the village playboy."

"I am not a playboy," Kakashi muttered, looking incredibly hurt. "Who calls me a playboy?" Instead of this being an act, it was completely true. He wasn't a playboy; he didn't even sleep with half the people that claimed to have slept with him. One of the reasons he hadn't was because a good ¾ of them were female. Kakashi just didn't do female. They were far to complicated2.

Iruka looked at the silver haired man with a small frown on his face. "A lot of people. They're all under the impression you are considering your attitude and complete disregard for the public eye and your authorities."

"Since when did 'don't do well with authority' and 'has a lackadaisical outlook on life' translate into 'playboy'?" Kakashi huffed.

"I'm not sure, but that's the impression you give people," Iruka said, still holding the dog, who was trying desperately to escape the iron grip he was being held under, in the tub.

Kakashi nodded and sighed, looking away from the man he was going to go on a date with, desperately hoping this conversation didn't ruin whatever chances he may have had. "I didn't even sleep with ¾ of them. Those ¾ are women and the other ¼ is made up of men I wouldn't consider touching or girls in the teens and tweens…some boys in there, too…maybe three of those hundreds of boasts are true."

"Ok, we'll see how it goes," Iruka went back to washing the dogs and Kakashi turned to leave, this time actually making it to a different room. He'd finished his sandwich in the time it took to have that conversation and he wanted another one. The jonin was glad Iruka was still willing to give him a chance, even after the reputation that seemed to have created itself. He'd have to find the boasters and put them in their place, though. That was really, really annoying.

Kakashi looked casually up at the clock and did the math in his head. If he was supposed to meet his 'kids' at 7:30 and it was 5:47 now, then he'd have to be ready to leave by 7:00 because he was walking and he was not going to make a hungry Team 7 wait. That was just about as suicidal as having a party exclusively for jonin in the chunnin's apartment. His team did not like to wait for their dinner, and who was he to deny them food? Iruka would probably kill him if he made them wait, too.

"Kakashi!" Iruka called from the bathroom. "What time do you have to meet the boys?"

"7:30 at Ichiraku's," Kakashi called back.

See? He _soo _called that one. Kakashi chuckled and put away all of the sandwich making stuff as soon as he was done with his seconds. Iruka would get angry at him if he… When had he started to think about Iruka as a part of his life; as someone like a wife or a lover? Kakashi mentally decided to call Iruka a lover when wondering about these things because he highly doubted Iruka would like being compared to a wife, mentally or not. But seriously, when had that happened? Why was his mouth so comfortable asking the man out on dates? When had his mind decided to take a vacation regarding the Chunnin and his sudden and originally unwelcome presence in his life?

Kakashi sighed again and went to the living room. He could at least make himself comfortable while he pondered the meaning of life and why Iruka was suddenly a _must have_ in his life.

The man argued with himself for a long time. In that time Iruka had finished washing the dogs and told Kakashi he could use the bathroom to get ready for his team dinner, Kakashi had gone through the getting ready part without any interference from his brain, he'd teased Iruka mercilessly and made the poor man blush _(really, it was a wonder the poor harasses Chunnin was agreeing to go out with his incorrigible pervert self at all) _and he'd left for what was sure to be a very interesting and/or entertaining dinner. When the man came back to himself, he noticed that he was sitting on a barstool at the designated meeting place and it was time to pay for the meal and go home. The dinner had gone remarkably well and the members of Team 7 had left with insulting nicknames but no potentially fatal injuries. All in all, it was a very successful meeting.

Kakashi opened the door to what was now his home; he'd even started classifying it as such in his mind when he thought about home, and found Iruka sitting on the couch in the living room. Once again he couldn't help but compare the man to a wife, and he smiled sweetly, pulling down the mask to reveal his face.

Iruka opened his mouth to speak, but Kakashi beat him to it.

"The dinner went fine. They went away with embarrassing and slightly insulting pet names, but were otherwise unscathed."

Iruka rolled his eyes and shook his head before turning away, down the hall and to his bedroom.

"Get some sleep, Kakashi," Iruka called over his shoulder. "I'll see you in the morning."

Kakashi blinked and looked behind him, as if he was checking to see if there was magically another person named Kakashi standing behind him before looking back to the retreating Chunnin. The Chunnin had actually sounded as if he cared about the jonin's health. Kakashi blinked again and toed off his shoes, nudging them up against the wall, before following Iruka into the house.

Kakashi's feet took over from there and he found himself going through his evening routine, but instead of going to the guest room, he went into Iruka's and climbed into the bed. That wasn't so surprising, considering how his body had been acting all day, but how Iruka reacted was. The man simply scooted over to accommodate the new arrival. No yelling, no pushing Kakashi off the bed, nothing. The Copy-Nin made himself comfortable, pulling the blankets up around him and moving just a tad bit closer to the other source of heat in the bed. He hesitantly wrapped his arm around Iruka's waist, and, when he received no negative response, spooned himself to Iruka's form before closing his eyes. Kakashi could hear Iruka's breathing evening out, calm and relaxing, and soon Kakashi was drifting off as well.

The last thing the jonin registered before he let his mind go under was the shifting of the bed and the sudden weight on his body. The dogs had decided to join them.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Ha…Hahaha…Hahahahahahaha!!! Finally! Some KakaIru action! Amazing! Once again, I'm sorry for making you wait for this chapter and I hope you accept my deepest apologies regarding that. I hope that long wait didn't make you all too jaded and that you do still leave me some nice reviews! –big puppy dog eyes the size of dinner plates- I like reviews. They help me write better! –big happy smile-_

_**Footnoteness:**_

_1. A slut bun is a pony tail not brought completely through the hair tie and as a result, it looks sloppy and like you just crawled out of bed. _


	8. I Like You

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Hello!! I've been trying really hard to not keep my readers waiting, and luckily my iPod is cooperating. So far it's actually providing the inspiration I need to write this awesomely cool story. YAY!!! Usually it hates me and erases its memory if I plug it in to the virus infected computer that belongs to the rest of my family, but it likes my computer and so on and so forth. I'm just rambling right now, so, while I continue to ramble, you go on ahead and read the story. I really don't mind if you ignore me in favor of the story, that's why I posted it…-continues talking, y'all scroll on down-_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Naruto or anybody else that may make an appearance in this little thingamagigit, so don't ask me about it…well, if any OCs make an appearance, then they're mostly likely mine. I also don't own __Paranormal Activity__ I just needed a movie for the characters in my story to go see._

_**Inspiration:**__ I Like You-Morrissey (hahahaha, it's a funny song. I highly recommend you people listen to it. Its great and fits the chapter so well…)_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble: Chapter 8:_

_I Like You_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

Iruka opened his eyes slowly. He felt warm and safe and comfortable, mostly safe. The chocolate colored man then took notice of the heavy arm around his waist and the steady breathing against his neck and the pajama bottoms up against his bare body…The man blushed ten different shades of red when he realized he was actually sleeping naked with the village pervert in his own bed. Then he noticed the added weight at the foot of the bed exactly how warm it was.

Iruka opened his eyes and looked around. All of Kakashi's dogs had taken up residence at the foot of the bed, or on top of the two men, as the case may be. Bull was certainly too big to fit at the bottom and he was doing a remarkably good job as an extra blanket. If he ever needed a career change, a family dog would work just fine. Iruka smiled and rolled over to the best of his abilities to face the man behind him, who was watching him with sleepy eyes.

"'Mornin'," the silver haired man yawned and smiled sloppily.

Iruka chuckled and simply made himself more comfortable. "Aren't we doing things a little backwards?"

Kakashi raised his eyebrow and gave all of his early morning attention to the chocolate colored man in the bed.

"You're supposed to take me out on a date first. Then share my bed, you know, after the fifth or sixth date; not the night you ask me on the first date…" Iruka explained with all of the patience of someone explaining 2+3=5 to a five year old, while poking the silver haired man in the chest.

"Well, I was originally going to go to my own room, but my feet kinda led a mutiny against my brain," Kakashi smiled and moved Iruka's hand away from him. He didn't like getting poked.

Iruka looked at the man critically before deciding to believe him on this one. He was very familiar with limbs and other parts of his anatomy taking over. Iruka stretched and looked down at the end of the bed again. The two men had an audience. Most noticeable of the dogs was Pakkun, who was not in his usual place to the left of Kakashi's head. Iruka simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"What? You're in my spot," the pug grumbled and jumped down to the floor. "Kakashi, we're hungry."

"Why can't you go hunting or something?" Kakashi whined and Iruka laughed.

"You're the one who decided to pamper us. If you didn't keep us around your apartment all the time, maybe we would go hunting and act like normal nin-ken. We're all you fault."

"Mm-hmm…" Kakashi made a thoughtful noise before grunting and pushing himself from the bed. "Iruka, you sleep naked?"

Iruka facepalmed, cursing himself for his carelessness. "Yes," he groaned. Nobody had figured that out.

"Well, I usually walk around naked, but I've been restraining myself for your sake. I didn't want to scar you for life…If you were straight," Kakashi paused at the door. "How do you classify your sexuality?"

Iruka blinked and looked at the silver haired puppy man thing. "Um, bi, I guess."

Kakashi nodded acceptingly before leaving and Iruka stretched again, accidentally knocking the dog with the sunglasses off the bed. Iruka apologized and closed his eyes, thinking. Kakashi was possibly mentally insane, not clinically, but still; it was the occupational hazard of being a jonin. That and dying, but that was beside the point. The point was that if he was going to go out with any jonin, and he had gone out with a few, then he was just going to have to deal with the mentally unstable part of it. Kakashi didn't mean any harm by anything he did. He just wasn't used to having people talk to him like he's a human being rather than a trained dog from the K-9 division.

Iruka smiled at that. The image of Kakashi being a happy puppy or a trained, extremely deadly German shepherd just wouldn't go away, although sometimes the image of a fluffy white kitten would pop into his head; the man moved and acted like a cat, sometimes, whether he liked to admit it or not. Kakashi would probably freak out if he were to find that out. Iruka thought it was rather endearing. Either way, Kakashi was like a fluffy infant animal of some kind. It really depended on his mood. Iruka liked him either way, puppy or kitten. He was still unintentionally adorable.

The school teacher pushed himself out of bed and pulled on a pair of pajama pants before going to find Kakashi and his pack of dogs. They weren't really all that hard to find; all one had to do was listen for the clack of the dogs' claws on the linoleum of the kitchen floor.

"How do you manage to feed all of them without going completely broke?" Iruka muttered, not expecting to be heard over the noise the feeding animals were making.

"I live in a really shabby apartment that doesn't cost a lot in the bad part of town," Kakashi was putting the dog food back in Iruka's pantry. "If I do that, I can have enough money to feed me, the dogs, and Team 7, but if I don't feed the boys I can go to the movies or do something for myself, like take really cute academy teachers on dates."

Kakashi smiled brightly at the school teacher and the dogs attacked their food ruthlessly. Iruka shook his head and rolled his eyes and walked to the cupboard that held all of his breakfast stuff that didn't have to be refrigerated. He pulled out a box of cereal, something that he really didn't like but ate anyway because it was supposed to be good for the body, and went over to the fridge to get the milk. As he turned around, Kakashi made a face.

"What?" Iruka asked as he turned on the coffee pot on his way by.

"How can you eat that stuff?"

"I thought you were all into health," Iruka raised an eyebrow.

"In my personal opinion, anything that's green and leafy should be thrown away-it's gone bad- and anything labeled 'healthy' tastes gross," Kakashi looked at the box of cereal as if it were a personal affront to have the box in his presence. "How can anything that tastes that bad be good for you?" Kakashi looked at the school teacher inquisitively, and Iruka couldn't help but agree with the other man.

"I personally think it's disgusting, but I want to take care of my body," Iruka facepalmed as soon as those words come out of his mouth because Kakashi got an evil, mischievous smirk on his face and opened his mouth to say something. "You stop right there, Hatake! I don't want to hear it." Iruka pointed at his perverted house guest and huffed about the kitchen, preparing his breakfast.

Kakashi chuckled evilly, but continued anyway. "I could help you take care of your body, sensei. It's such a nice body, after all," Kakashi came up behind the unhappy Chunnin and wrapped his arms around said chunnin's waist.

Iruka let him. He liked it when Kakashi did that, wrapped his arms around him. It felt right somehow, like he was meant to fit right there. Iruka noticed that his head fit nicely into the hollow of Kakashi's throat and Kakashi's arms were the perfect size to wrap around Iruka's waist. The man's height was also perfect. They just kinda fit together, like puzzle pieces, as cliché as it sounded. The school teacher mentally shook his head and leaned back into Kakashi. The silver haired man was obviously surprised by this and quickly pulled away, looking at Iruka like he had grown a second head.

Iruka rolled his eyes and made his way back to the counter. He was still hungry.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Iruka looked around his room frantically. What the hell was he supposed to wear tonight? He had no fucking clue; none whatsoever. Of course clothes were on the list of what to wear, but what specific clothes, he had no fucking clue. The brown haired man pulled at the roots of his hair, gritted his teeth, and spun around 360 degrees, looking at his unnaturally messy room. Clothes were piled up on the bed and thrown across the chair in the corner and hanging from the doorknobs on the bedroom door and the closet. His dresser drawers were open and clothes were hanging haphazardly over the edge.

The man stopped and put his hands on his hips and shook his head. Why was he worried over this? It was just a little date. They were just going to hang out; nothing special. Dinner and a movie. That's it, so why was he freaking out? It was just Kakashi; the slightly abnormal jonin. The jonin he'd come to like having in his home. Why was that fluttery feeling in his stomach? Why wouldn't it go away? Why was he nervous?

Iruka just sat down, right in the middle of his bedroom, clothes on all sides, and sighed. One of his hands came up and stroked the area where a beard would be (1) roughly and his head turned to the right, where Pakkun was sitting in the crack of the open door.

"Yes?" Iruka asked the little dog _(who would probably get an Edward Elric complex (2) if he knew Iruka was thinking that)._

"Kakashi likes blue and green," the pug said simply, managing to somehow pull off a Kakashi-shrug. Iruka chuckled at the image; Kakashi just didn't look good as a pug, a husky, maybe, but not a pug.

"Thanks, Pakkun. Any other suggestions?" Iruka smiled and rested his head on his arms that were across his knees.

The pug stood up and walked into the room, looking around critically. Iruka raised an eyebrow. He just somehow couldn't see the dog as a fashion expert, but it appeared as if the dog knew exactly what he was doing. Pakkun trotted around the room, looking at various articles of clothing, pulling out what he liked and bringing it to the man in the middle of the room before running back into the ocean of reds, blues, greens, browns, oranges, and blacks again. All in all, it was hilarious.

"Hey, 'Ruka-chan! Have you seen Pakkun?" Kakashi called from somewhere outside the bedroom.

"Yeah, I got him!" Iruka called back, picking up the green-blue gradient-dyed button-up shirt and the black cargo pants Pakkun had dragged over to him. He looked at the pug with a raised eyebrow and the dog nodded.

At this point, Iruka was beginning to wonder at _his_ sanity, what with all this trusting a dog's fashion sense, but nothing he had been doing lately was making any sense to any one of his personalities and inner voices and what not. Iruka shrugged mentally and stood up, walking over to the full length mirror and holding up the two cloth pieces. Ok, maybe the dog knew how to dress people.

"I have to give Kakashi advice from time to time; he's hopeless," the pug left the room via the slightly open door and Iruka watched him go. That was only a little odd…

Iruka closed the door and got into the outfit, which didn't look at all bad on him, and pulled his hair up into his usual style. There was a sigh from the door and Iruka looked over. He saw two dogs in the doorway, Pakkun and the dog with sunglasses.

"What's up?" Iruka asked as he pulled his hair through the hair tie.

"Hair down," the dog with the sunglasses said simply.

"Umm…I know you've been here for about two, three weeks, but...what's your name?" Iruka pulled his hair out and let it fall over his shoulders. Iruka shook his head and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked hot if he did say so himself. "Pakkun, you have one awesome fashion sense."

The pug grunted and the other dog replied, "Spaz."

Iruka looked at the dog. "Seriously?"

The dog nodded and explained further, "I was hyper when I was younger; more so than average."

Iruka made an 'oh' face and headed for the door. "Well, thank you both for the help."

The dogs just grunted and followed Iruka to the living room. Well, Spaz followed him; Pakkun walked into the bathroom where Kakashi was and soon two different voices could be heard. Iruka just made himself comfortable on the couch while he waited.

He didn't have to wait long.

Kakashi announced his presence by a quiet gasp; a gasp that probably would have gone unnoticed by any ordinary citizen, but Iruka wasn't an ordinary citizen; he was a ninja and as such, he heard Kakashi's quiet gasp. Iruka opened his eyes, which he didn't realized he'd closed, and almost laughed at Kakashi's face. It was a mixture of shock and awe and pleasure. Iruka decided he liked that look. It made him feel special and he'd be the happiest person on earth if Kakashi only ever made that face for him. Iruka smiled one of his smiles that made people go weak about the knees and men and women run into various solid objects because they were staring at him for too long and not at what they were supposed to be doing and pushed himself up. He raised his arms and asked:

"So, what do you think?"

Kakashi opened and closed his mouth a few times before he managed to get any sound out at all. "You look great," was the eventual answer. "You didn't have to get all dressed up for me, sensei."

"I wanted to," Iruka smiled again and Kakashi responded in turn, pulling his mask up around his face.

"Have you ever shown your face to anyone besides me?" Iruka asked as he moved to the door. The man pulled his shoes on and stood up straight to wait for Kakashi.

"Nope. Well, not unless you count my team; not the boys though," Kakashi did up the laces on his combat boots and reached for the doorknob. As the man pulled the door open he patted his pockets as if checking for something.

Iruka raised his eyebrow in question and Kakashi replied to the unspoken question: "I'm making sure I have my wallet. I've left it behind enough times to have to do this."

Iruka laughed and exited the house. "I can hold my own door open, Kakashi."

"Well, I asked you out, so I'll play the part of the knight, albeit a bit more unknightly than most people would prefer," Kakashi closed the door behind him and offered Iruka his hand. Iruka looked at it with a raised eyebrow _(he seemed to be raising his eyebrows a lot as of late. It was getting annoying) _and took it, twining his dark-skinned, shorter fingers with Kakashi's pale, long, piano playing fingers. "I recommend you close your eyes. Transportation Justu can really disorient a person."

Iruka closed his eyes and suddenly he felt as if he were being pulled in 100 different directions and imploding and exploding all at the same time, then it was suddenly very still and Iruka could hear conversations all around them, none of which seemed all that startled with their appearance. One chocolate colored, brightly shining, slightly apprehensive eye opened a crack and saw Kakashi looking at it expectantly. The eye finished opening and the other followed suit rather quickly. Iruka looked around. They were in the movie theatre.

"What would you like to see, 'Ruka-chan?" Kakashi smiled like the little shit he was because he knew, _he knew,_ Iruka was going to let him get away with calling him that. Iruka did, and replied:

"_Paranormal Activity (3)_."

Kakashi looked at Iruka critically, "You sure?"

Iruka nodded. "What, the jonin afraid of a movie?"

Kakashi snorted and led Iruka through the ticket booth and the concession stand and into the theatre where they took their seats in the back row. The theatre filled up and soon the lights dimmed and the movie started. Popcorn was making its way to the pair of mouths in a steady stream and the soda pop was almost gone. Suddenly Micah's body came flying at the camera and Katie was standing in the door way. Iruka jumped about a mile high and Kakashi laughed at him, poking his date in the side. Iruka just glared. The screen went black and the audience sat there for a while, not sure how they were supposed to take that before a few people started to laugh and the others stood up and began to pack away.

"Well, I liked it," Kakashi let Iruka leave the seats first, following closely behind the man.

Iruka sighed shakily. "I need to sit down for a bit; my knees are shaking."

"What, Chunnin scared over a movie?" Kakashi teased and Iruka hit the man over the head with his empty popcorn bucket.

"A little bit, yeah. I'm allowed to be," Iruka huffed and crossed his arms over his chest after throwing his now dented popcorn bucket away.

"Well, fine then. While we sit, we'll discuss where you would like to go for dinner," Kakashi sat down against the wall leading to the exit door and Iruka followed him.

"Why only where I want to go?"

"Because I asked you out and I'd like to make this date enjoyable for you," Kakashi smiled cutely beneath his mask, his eye curving into a crescent shape. Iruka smiled back at him; he was actually enjoying himself.

"Um…then I'd like to get some Thai food," Iruka said quietly after a few minutes of a happy silence.

"I know just the place," Kakashi stood up and offered his hand to the still sitting Iruka. "Would you like to walk or transport?"

"How far is it?"

"Not far."

"Walk it is," Iruka took Kakashi's hand and pulled himself to his feet. They began walking, their hands still entwined.

Dinner was a fun affair, only good conversation and good food; no fighting or arguing or general unpleasantness, so as they walked through the door into Iruka's house, Iruka was just waiting for the other shoe to fall _('Well, Iruka, it's been fun, but you're not my type' or 'This isn't going to work' or '-)._ They made their way to their respective bedrooms and got ready for bed. Iruka crawled into his own bed and soon the door opened, signifying Kakashi's entry before the bed depressed and another heat entered the space. Iruka scooted over to make room for Kakashi, _(Why was he doing this? Why had Kakashi come into his room again? Why was he allowing this to happen? Did he like Kakashi? Why? Why? Why?)_ and Kakashi wrapped his arms around the man again.

The dogs came in soon after and fell into place on top of the pair of men, making themselves as comfortable in the bed as their master. Iruka rolled over and buried his face in Kakashi's neck, wrapped his arms around Kakashi's waist, threw one leg possessively over Kakashi's hips and decided that the questions could wait until tomorrow. Right now he liked lying in bed with Kakashi, so he'd just make himself comfortable.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Wow, I kinda like this chapter. Do you like it? I would really like to know, so please review. I like reviews._

_**Footnoteness:**_

_(1) Eddie Izzard and his 'stroky beard meetings' –shakes head- I watched him before writing this chapter_

_(2) My friends call Edward Elric's (from __Fullmetal Alchemist__ in case you didn't know) short complex an Edward Elric complex, so, yeah…Pakkun has an Edward Elric complex means he doesn't like to be called short._

_(3) Paranormal Activity is a really, really, really scary movie that I went to go see with my friend recently. Ahh, I usually don't get scared of movies, but this has had me freaked out for a while. My friend, Ko, doesn't usually get freaked out from movies either, but she was holding my hand just as tightly as I was holding hers. –weird sound- Freakyness. _


	9. Gotta Be Somebody

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Hello again! Yay! More story! I like writing…This one actually came to me pretty quickly and on accident. I love it when chapters do that. So, here's Chapter 9, wow…9 chapters. This is the farthest I've ever gotten in any story. Somebody needs to pat me on the back or buy an ice cream or something! It's a momentous occasion for me!! ON WITH THE STORY!!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ Naruto me no own. I just borrowed Kakashi, Iruka and several others for my own personal enjoyment. I am not making any profit off of this and etc, etc, etc. Honestly, if I owned Naruto, it'd prolly be yaoi and not appropriate for young children._

_**Inspiration:**__ Gotta Be Somebody-Nickelback (I love this song!)_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble: Chapter 9:_

_Gotta Be Somebody_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

Kakashi blinked as Iruka's leg went over his hips. It was entirely unexpected, but he liked it. He liked that Iruka wasn't the type of person to sit back and let him take control; it was refreshing, just like everything else about the Chunnin. The silver haired ninja smiled and settled himself more comfortably against the younger shinobi. This just felt right and comfortable and natural and safe and not bad for anybody at all. He rather liked the feeling. He liked feeling wanted; Kakashi had always wanted to feel wanted. His old team had wanted him, even if they had a strange way of showing it, but they'd wanted him. Then they'd died and Kakashi had been left with no-one, but now he had someone and he'd be damned if he was going to let him go without a fight.

Kakashi tightened his arms ever so slightly around Iruka's waist and received a low groan against his neck in response. Iruka wasn't awake, he'd fallen asleep shortly after lying down, but Kakashi liked the noises he made either way. They were comforting, in a way. Kakashi felt the dogs climb up onto the bed and take their places, creating a little bit of noise in the process before settling down and leaving a comfortable, sleepy silence in their wake. The silver haired man just laid there and listened to Iruka's sleep noises. There were little grunts and moans, swallows and deep breaths, contented sounds, nothing that would signify that he was unhappy about their sleeping arrangements.

Only after he was sure Iruka wasn't regretting his decision to let Kakashi into his bed did he relax and let his eyes close. Kakashi's body fell into a complacent relaxed state, letting his mind wander into the realm of sleep. Kakashi smiled softly into Iruka's hair and finally let sleep take him.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

The next morning found the two older men in Iruka's bed together staring down a flabbergasted Naruto, the ever stoic Sasuke and a socially awkward Sai _(honestly, what's he supposed to do in this type of situation? Even Kakashi had no clue…)_. Dealing with them one at a time would have been easier, but they'd just had to come over and alert Kakashi to Sasuke's release from the hospital in a group. Today. For breakfast. Without calling first. Kakashi sighed and braced himself for the earful he was bound to be getting from the blond.

Iruka coughed softly from his spot next to Kakashi. "Congratulations, Sasuke. How are you feeling?" Naturally Iruka would be the one to think of being polite in this type of situation.

"Fine, thank you. Congratulations to you and Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke replied easily and Iruka's face turned into a tomato.

Kakashi laughed and pinched Iruka's ass under the blankets which caused Iruka to 'eep' rather loudly and Naruto to start his screaming about 'his stupid perverted sensei deflowering his most precious Iruka-sensei and how Kakashi ought to know better than to go crawling under every single bed cover he sees' and so on and so forth. The dogs started barking and jumping. Kakashi thought it was a wonderful way to start his morning and Sai just stood there, smiling awkwardly, absently twirling his fingers around his paintbrush that had somehow managed to find its way into his hands. Sasuke smirked.

Iruka yelled at Naruto for yelling at Kakashi and yelled at the dogs for making far more noise than was necessary and then kicked the three young ninja out of the room so he could put some pants on and yell at Kakashi for pinching his ass and starting the commotion in the first place. The chocolate haired shinobi jumped out of bed in a fury, completely oblivious to the stare the other shinobi was running over his naked body. Kakashi smirked as his mind ran through all of the possible things he could do to that body, aside from hurting it; no he'd never hurt Iruka. At least, not intentionally. The smirk changed to a rather fond smile and his eyes went from lecherous to possessive. Iruka took that moment to turn around mid-rant –"…and are you even listening to me, Kakashi-sensei?!"- and found Kakashi standing behind him… Well, face to face with him now, actually.

Kakashi stood there for a few minutes, staring at a suddenly very silent Iruka before he wrapped his arms around the Chunnin and kissed him dead on the lips. It wasn't a very big kiss, just a little peck, but Kakashi thought it was perfect. Sure he'd had kisses in the heat of passion and after missions when everybody is high on adrenaline and all they want is release, but none of them could hold a candle to the one he'd just shared with Iruka. There wasn't even tongue involved. Kakashi pulled back a little bit and looked at Iruka again, waiting for a response. He got a stupidly happy smile. Kakashi smiled back.

"You're still in trouble, Kakashi," Iruka murmured.

"I know."

Naruto took that opportunity to start banging on the door and yelling at Kakashi. "What did you do to Iruka-sensei!? I'm going to kill you Kakashi, jonin or not…"

…And that's how they all ended up at the breakfast table on that fine Saturday morning while Iruka bustled around the kitchen and Naruto sat across from Kakashi, glaring daggers. Kakashi did his best to ignore him and the daggers he was glaring, but it wasn't really working. He was usually an expert at ignoring people, especially his students.

"Naruto, is there any real reason that you don't want me dating Iruka?" Kakashi asked, looking up from the Icha Icha Paradise book he'd had to relocate just for this occasion; he couldn't believe he hadn't even touched it since he'd been living with Iruka. It just wasn't natural for him to forget about Icha Icha, not even for a little bit.

Naruto blinked and looked away with an expression of extreme concentration on his face. Sasuke noticed this and smirked, saying:

"Careful, dobe, you shouldn't be think that hard without your helmet. You might hurt yourself."

"Shut up, teme, this is kinda important to me," Naruto responded quietly without his usual bite. Kakashi sat across from him patiently waiting for his answer and Iruka watched with a small, slap happy smile on his face from the kitchen. Naruto suddenly looked up and met Kakashi's eye head on _(he'd put his mask back on)_ and began his reasons.

"Well, you really don't have that good of a track record. You're a pervert, and you have a habit of treating people like they're less important than you. You have no sense of propriety or what socially acceptable and you're just plain weird," Naruto shrugged and suddenly looked very awkward. He'd just called one of the most powerful shinobi in Konoha a really, really bad person. Now he just had to see if he'd live to tell the tale.

Kakashi was silent for a few minutes before he threw his head back and started laughing. "A valid argument. Now, here's the rebuttal. One, most of that track record is fake, and I didn't even make it up; ¾ of my track record are female and the other ¼ is made up of adolescents that just really want to sleep with me and men that I wouldn't dream of touching. I've really only slept with three of the people, and they are Genma, Asuma and Kotetsu. Why do I feel like I've said this before?(1)"

Iruka was laughing in the kitchen.

"Two," Kakashi held up two fingers, "yes, I'm a pervert, and I'm not gonna be able to change that. Three, I treat people like dirt as a defense; if people manage to get close to me they'll be able to put up with the rest of me. Four, no I don't and I've never really cared about propriety. Five, I don't believe in social norms and six, yes I am weird, thank you for noticing," Kakashi finished with a smile and Naruto was laughing.

"OK, OK, you can date my Iruka-sensei," Naruto looked at Kakashi with a strange look on his face. "I like this 'you' a bit better than the 'you' that ties me to tree trunks."

Kakashi smirked beneath his mask and looked over at the other two boys at the table. Sasuke looked amused and Sai was sitting there with a look of confusion on his face. "You two are gonna have to do a better job of training your new teammate in human emotions and reactions."

"We know, but we decided you and Iruka needed to know that teme was out of the hospital," Naruto clapped as Iruka set a big plate of pancakes in the centre of the table along with maple syrup and a dish of butter. Kakashi, Sasuke and Sai raised an eyebrow at the foreign dish in front of them and Naruto and Iruka dug into the stack eagerly.

Iruka looked up and took notice of the look on the three men's faces and laughed, "They're pancakes, Kakashi. Didn't anyone ever make them for you when you were younger?"

The three ninja shook their heads and Iruka sighed. "I'll have to educate you guys on how to eat pancakes then," and Iruka proceeded to do so. Kakashi was laughing the entire time and Sasuke felt a little out of place and Sai was still getting over the fact that he was eating breakfast with other people…

…and that was their very first 'family' breakfast, as crazy as it was. Kakashi like his dysfunctional family, even if they weren't really his family.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Kakashi was helping Iruka clean up after breakfast by washing, drying and putting away dishes while Iruka washed the table, swept the floor and put away the food. That had gone remarkably well, the breakfast with the team. Iruka came over and wrapped his arms around Kakashi's waist. Kakashi froze and looked behind him to see what Iruka wanted. To do so, he had to twist and bend his neck at an awkward angle, but he managed it.

Iruka was smiling. "Stop doing that. You'll hurt your neck, and aren't you supposed to be doing the dishes?"

"…but you're holding on to me and being entirely too distracting," Kakashi had stopped doing dishes by now and was just kind of playing in the water. Well, he wasn't really playing as much as he was running his hands through the warm, soapy water. "Careful, sensei. I could get used to this, and you'd never be rid of me."

"Who said I wanted to get rid of you?" Iruka was rubbing his hands over Kakashi's stomach, and Kakashi's eyes had somehow fallen closed and his head had gone back to its natural position.

"Nobody, but I just assumed that you would want me out of your house eventually," Kakashi pulled the plug from the sink's drain and reached for a towel.

"Maybe when you're being particularly infuriating, but not when you're like this," Iruka let go of Kakashi's waist and picked up a towel also. The dishes were soon dry and in their respective cupboards and Kakashi turned to Iruka.

"Now that we have the approval of the troops, what would you like to do, 'Ruka?" Kakashi leaned back against the counter expectantly.

"We'll see how it goes, m'k?" Iruka smiled at Kakashi and hung his towel over one of the cupboard doors.

Kakashi nodded and smiled happily. "Would you like to watch a movie, 'Ruka-chan?"

Iruka glared weakly at the revival of the dreaded pet name but agreed with Kakashi, and they were soon sitting all curled up on the couch in front of _A Knight's Tale_ with a big bowl of popcorn. Kakashi had his head on Iruka's lap and Iruka was running his hands through Kakashi's surprisingly soft hair. Kakashi had melted as soon as it had started.

"Kakashi, if you start purring I will lose all respect for you,(2)" Iruka whispered and after that, Kakashi did his very best to not purr, but occasionally he'd find his eyes closing and his head pressing back into Iruka's hand for more. Kakashi found he liked how this was going, when he wasn't concentrating on trying not to purr. He'd like this very much if for once the gods didn't actually see fit to ruin this one, like with everything that had happened with everybody else he'd ever cared about.

Kakashi's foot started to twitch slightly and Iruka just laughed. "Kakashi, I don't know whether you'd be best as a puppy or a kitten."

Kakashi pouted. "I'm not a kitten."

"Kakashi," Iruka began dryly, "you're almost purring and I'm only petting your head."

Kakashi gave Iruka a wounded little glare and went back to pouting, lower lip pushed out slightly and his arms crossed over his chest sullenly with his eyes fixed resolutely on the TV screen. "I'm not a kitten."

"Sure, you're not," Iruka looked back at the TV, too, and resumed his hands movements over Kakashi's scalp. The cycle began all over again. "You're a kitten."

Kakashi huffed, but otherwise, he wisely let it go. No use arguing with his brand new boyfriend over something as stupid as that, anyway. The movie finished, the good guys won, etc, etc, etc, and Kakashi sat up and Iruka looked at him funnily.

"What?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

By now, Iruka was snickering, but he answered anyway, "Your hair looks really funny."

"Well, that's your fault, now isn't it?" Kakashi ran a hand through said hair and made it stick up in its usual style, eyes looking futilely at the top of his head before looking back at Iruka.

"How do you get your hair so soft? That probably sounds really weird," Iruka rambled.

"Um…I just wash it. I don't use any conditioner or a hairbrush or anything," Kakashi pulled a lock of his hair down to his mismatched eyes, making them cross.

"You don't use a hairbrush?" Iruka asked incredulously.

Kakashi shook his head. "I've never needed to, even when I was younger." He let the lock of hair go and it bounced back into its position atop Kakashi's head.

"You, my dear jonin, are one strange duck," Iruka said getting up and picking up the popcorn bowl off the coffee table.

"Make up your mind. Am I a puppy, a kitten or a duck?"

Iruka let out a bout of clear bubbling laughter and it made Kakashi smile. "I like it when you laugh," he said quietly, so quietly that Iruka didn't hear it, and smiled fondly at the Chunnin's back.

Iruka came back to the living room doorway and found Kakashi with that 'stupidly in love' look on his face and frowned slightly. It was completely out of character for Kakashi to look like that. "What's up, puppycat?(3)"

Kakashi motioned Iruka over and the Chunnin went willingly. Kakashi wrapped his hand around Iruka's wrist and pulled the smaller man down on top of him. Iruka easily slid onto Kakashi's lap, legs on either side of Kakashi's hips and looked at the jonin, tilting his head cutely. Kakashi reached up and threaded his fingers through Iruka's hair and pushed the other man's head down to meet Kakashi's lips.

For a few seconds, nothing happened except for the gentle contact, but soon Kakashi's hand gripped a little tighter and Iruka's head tilted slightly. Kakashi's tongue lapped at Iruka's bottom lip and the school teacher opened his mouth and the battle of tongues began. Back and forth, back and forth. Iruka's hands began wandering and Kakashi sucked on Iruka's tongue, let go and moved his attention to the chocolate man's lower lip. Iruka moaned and brought his hands up Kakashi's back to bury them in his wild mane of hair. Kakashi moaned back and brought the hand that wasn't holding Iruka's head in place around the man's waist and pulled the teacher closer to Kakashi.

Soon after that, Kakashi pulled back slightly and rested his forehead against Iruka's. They both panted and their breath mingled in the small space between them. Finally, Kakashi opened his eyes and watched Iruka open his slowly, revealing beautiful, doe-eyed, shining brown irises. Kakashi smiled at the other man and Iruka smile back happily, brightly, and gave Kakashi one last peck on the lips before asking:

"Besides me, what would you like for lunch?" Iruka laughed gently and tugged Kakashi's hair fondly.

"You are a very cruel man, Iruka-sensei," Kakashi chuckled and leaned his head back into Iruka's hands. "Keep pulling at my hair like that and you are not getting off this couch."

"Fine," Iruka released Kakashi's hair, settling for draping his arms over Kakashi's shoulders, locking his hands behind the silver haired man's head. "Now, what would you like for lunch?"

"Don't care," Kakashi whispered and let his hand slide down Iruka's back and lock with its partner around the man's waist like they belonged there.

"Fine, then I'm not cooking and we're ordering take out. Any preferences?" Iruka chuckled and fit his head into the crook of Kakashi's neck.

"Um…pizza or ramen," Kakashi replied releasing his hold on Iruka's waist and letting his hand resume its position in Iruka's hair.

"Ramen it is," Iruka reluctantly untangled himself from Kakashi and went to call in their order, leaving Kakashi sitting on the couch alone and suddenly very cold. Kakashi stared at the ceiling and the ceiling stared back. Well, it stared back until the view was blocked by a certain pug named Pakkun; then just Pakkun stared back.

Kakashi could hear Iruka's voice in the kitchen and he smiled.

"You've got it bad, pup," Pakkun stated simply. "It's OK, too, because, aside from making us bathe every Thursday, we like him. You should keep him; he's been good for you."

Kakashi flopped his head over to look at the pug that had moved sometime during his little speech thing. "I've got what?"

The pug looked up at Kakashi with a 'you know exactly what I'm talking about' look on his face and said, "You're in love, pup, and there's no use denying it 'cause it's obvious."

"I wasn't denying it, but is it really obvious?"

Pakkun gave off his 'duh' look and stared Kakashi down. "You just did that thing you humans call kissing on his couch. I personally don't get what all the hype is with kissing. We dogs get along just fine without it…"

"Pakkun," Kakashi said.

"Hmm?" the pug looked up at his master.

"Shut up."

Pakkun chuckled in his doggish sort of way and jumped down from the couch. Iruka walked into the living room just as the small, annoying dog was exiting. The man moved over to the couch and curled up next to Kakashi.

"Food'll be here in about 30 minutes," Iruka said quietly.

Kakashi grunted and wrapped an arm around Iruka's shoulders. They sat there like that for about 30 minutes. There was no awkwardness, not after that kiss, and it felt like they were meant to sit like that on Iruka's couch and be together. Kakashi rested his head against the crown of Iruka's and smiled at how _right _this felt. A knock on the door broke the silence and Iruka got up to go get their food. When he came back, he handed Kakashi his order of pork ramen and sat down on the couch again. It seemed tonight they weren't even going to bother with the dining room. Kakashi really didn't care; he just liked eating with Iruka.

The rest of the day was spent in a delightfully lazy fashion; snuggling, talking, Kakashi tickling Iruka, watching more movies, discussing books, Kakashi molesting Iruka _(but not really because everybody knows Iruka wants it)_, and other things of that general nature. When they went to bed _(it had been unofficially decided that Iruka's bed was now their bed)_, nothing was different; Kakashi went to go get ready in the other room. Then he walked to the very end of the hall and climbed into Iruka's bed. Iruka turned over to bury his face in the crook of Kakashi's neck and threw a possessive leg over Kakashi's hips while Kakashi draped a possessive arm over Iruka's waist and the dogs piled on shortly after that.

Oh, yes, this was where Kakashi was supposed to be.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__…Awwww…It's so sweet that my teeth hurt. Well, not really, but yeah. Do you like it? We finally got some kissing in there. I'm not quite sure where the lemon is going to come in, but I do believe its close… This is one of my better chapters if I do say so myself, and I do, but what do you think? Inquiring minds want to know! xD! Remember, reviews make writers happy._

_**Footnoteness:**_

_1) Stumble Chpt. 7_

_2) ranty_rei's fic, Training Kakashi, over on livejournal used something like this line and I just loved it because I could so see Kakashi liking to have his ears and head scratched. Not to mention that that was one of the best fanfic's I've read for these two. I love that story._

_3) This is what we, meaning my little sister and me, call our really fat, stupid, blind cat because she thinks she's a dog and will eat anything you put in front of her except of normal cat food and broccoli. Her favorite food is popcorn… _


	10. Sway

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Hello people. I'm sorry it took so long to update. I just couldn't find the inspiration for this one. It didn't come as quickly as it usually does, which is weird. Kay, so I was thinking that when this story is finished, I'd post all the lyrics for the songs/chapter titles so that if y'all don't go out and buy the songs y'all would know how the songs fit, so… yeah. How do y'all feel 'bout that? Let me know._

_Ok, this chapter is going to be a split chapter. Meaning I'm going to change POV throughout the story because I feel like having two of this type of chapter would get too depressing and I don't like depressing, so I'll make a really long, split chapter, so I can get this over and done with and we can get rolling on more of the fun stuff, 'kay? Good, glad y'all agree with me._

_**Disclaimer: **__I don't own Naruto, but I figured that'd be obvious 'cause I'm writing this. If I owned Naruto I'd prolly make a KakashixIruka arc._

_**Inspiration:**__ Sway-Lostprophets_

_**Warning:**__ There is a bit of a lime in this chapter, so if you really aren't into that kind of thing just skip over it. There ya go, enjoy. (the lime might not be very good because I can't write limes to save my life. It's all or nothing with me…)_

_(My scene divider thing looks like a bracelet…Just thought y'all would like to know…Not really, let me ramble…)_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble: Chapter 10:_

_Sway_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

Iruka stood in the living room entry way and looked around his house in shocked silence. It felt empty, too quiet, cold; not like home. Iruka didn't like it. He'd become so accustomed to seeing Kakashi lying on his couch or raiding his book shelf or hearing his dogs racing down the hallway or barking in the kitchen. It wasn't right, how quiet it was. There wasn't any porn on the coffee table or Kakashi's clothes in the bathroom or the spare bedroom, no dog food in the pantry. Nothing except the faint scent of dog, sandalwood and oranges that had permeated the air during Kakashi's stay. Iruka leaned up against the door jam and slowly slid down and stared straight ahead at the opposite side of said entry.

The sun was just a vague suggestion through the curtains, but Iruka could tell it was setting nonetheless. The sun was setting and Iruka wasn't sitting on the couch with Kakashi or in the kitchen making dinner for two or telling Kakashi to get his fingers out of the pan 'cause dinner would be ready soon. He was just sitting there, doing nothing alone. Why was he doing nothing alone while the sun was setting?

_(It was around noon and Kakashi and Iruka were in the kitchen as per usual, getting ready for their not really scheduled, but ritualized, meal. There was a knock on the door, and Iruka stopped what he was doing to go answer it._

"_Oh, hello, Raccoon. How may I help you?" Iruka cheerfully asked the raccoon masked ANBU._

"_Lady Tsunade says missions over, the two of you can go back to your lives. Yes, Hatake-san is required to move out," and with that, Raccoon left a bewildered and stunned Iruka in the door._

_Iruka turned to Kakashi. Kakashi looked at him, the silver-haired man's expression probably mirroring his own... _Required to move out…_ Why? What had they done to require Kakashi to move out? Was this a punishment for something else they'd done? Was Tsunade mad at them for some reason? Iruka didn't know, but he really didn't want to know. They had just been getting used to living with each other, and now Kakashi had to move out. Kakashi had to leave him. Iruka didn't like that, not at all._

"_I'd…I'd better get packing then," Kakashi sounded pained as he said those words, but he'd said them and Iruka stoned his heart _(he wouldn't cry, he wouldn't cry. He wouldn't; he'd be strong) _and moved to help his boyfriend get packed. It was a somber affair and the very air seemed to be filled with the weight of the two men's hearts. It seemed as if someone had died and they were too afraid to speak lest they wake the dead._

_Packing took all afternoon and by six, Iruka was watching Kakashi walk away, two duffle bags over his shoulder and his dogs in tow; just the way he'd come. Iruka didn't like it. He already missed the man. Home already felt cold and empty; not home-like at all.)_

Oh, that's why.

Iruka missed Kakashi. He'd willingly admit that now. Maybe, back when this had started, Iruka would rather have died than admit it, but now wasn't then, so he was completely in agreement with what his heart was telling him. The man looked up at the clock and his brain told him to go get dinner, but his body refused to move. He didn't want to eat, didn't want to be reminded further that Kakashi wasn't there. Dinner was always their favorite meal; they debated and messed around and made out and just talked. Somehow it seemed easier to do all those things over dinner than any other meal. Neither man had really understood it, but they looked forward to it nonetheless. It was their special time.

Iruka sighed and looked down at the ground. He didn't even want to contemplate having to spend his night alone. He'd become so accustomed to hearing Kakashi's breathing and his heart beating and feeling him move that the chocolate colored man was afraid of the silence. He was afraid of going to bed and feeling Kakashi's half _(yes, Kakashi had a half of the bed; the half he always seemed to claim and the half that Iruka just didn't seem to like to sleep on) _empty and cold, but he'd have to go to bed because tomorrow he'd have to go and face the troops again. After all the time he'd been on the vacation of sorts, they were bound to have tons of bottled up energy waiting for him to return; new pranks to pull _('cause they hadn't worked on their jonin substitute, so they'll have to work on Iruka)_ and new stories to tell. Tomorrow would probably be spent catching up on their lives. They'd want to tell him every little detail, and he'd have to be attentive; not caught up on a jonin that was still his boyfriend, just not living in his house.

That's right, they were still dating. Relief washed in a refreshing wave over the Chunnin before the crushing feeling of sadness. They'd be able to see each other, but why couldn't they stick to their previous living arrangements? They'd been perfectly fine. Kakashi and Iruka had been happy. Why did it have to change? They weren't killing each other; in fact they had been inches away from having sex. They were far from killing each other; very far indeed. Iruka barked out a choked laugh and realized he was crying. The salty tears had somehow escaped without his knowledge. Why? He'd see Kakashi in the morning. What was wrong with him?

Iruka wiped at his eyes and cheeks and looked around. He needed to do something; needed to forget about the silence…But what was he supposed to do? He had no papers to grade, no lessons to write. Not for tomorrow, at least; not until he knew the extent of his students' knowledge. Kakashi had usually kept him entertained. Iruka's gaze landed on the TV and immediately discarded that as an option. He wasn't in the mood, but maybe music would help him. The man got up and went over to his music collection, looked through his CDs, put one into the expensive sound system, closed his brown eyes and began to move his body to and fro losing himself to the beat.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

"Lady Tsunade, was it really wise to do that to them? You know how well they were getting along," Shizune asked the Hokage quietly while placing some papers on the other woman's desk.

"Yes, it was. If they're really as into each other as they think they are, this'll be no problem. They'll find a way around it. I want both of them to be happy, Shizune," the Hokage looked at the papers in distaste. She really hated paper work. "I especially want Kakashi to be happy. Gods know he's had a hard life and deserves this."

Shizune looked at the Hokage curiously. "Whatever you say, Hokage-sama."

Tsunade nodded and shooed the woman out of her office. She had work to do, even if she wasn't happy about it.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Kakashi dropped his duffle bags onto the floor of his dirty apartment. He already despised it and he'd only been home for five seconds. The carpet was stained by various and sundry liquids from parties he'd had _(one stain was from Genma having too much alcohol and throwing up before passing out)_ and a fine film of dust had gathered over everything. After the dogs had moved in to Iruka's house, he'd all but forced his own apartment from his mind. The faint scent of mildew and wet dogs permeated the air and there was the scent of something old that hadn't been aired out in a while. Kakashi stopped looking around the entry way/ living room/ dining room/ kitchenette and walked further into his apartment.

His bathroom was foul, he'd definitely need to clean it and his bedroom had definitely seen better days. His bed was a mess and his closet doors were partially open to reveal its messy interior. The room smelled stale, old, unopened, unused. Kakashi desperately wished he was allowed to go back to Iruka's tonight. He really wasn't looking forward to spending his night in this hell hole. Alone. He just wanted to spend the night with Iruka tucked against him and the calming sounds of Iruka's house surrounding him. Here, he'd have a cold half of the bed, his dogs as a blanket and the sounds of his neighbors bickering over who left the toilet seat up. Kakashi sighed and walked back to his kitchenette. He dreaded to see the state of the food in there. Well, he dreaded to see the state of anything perishable.

Kakashi was right to dread it. Everything that could rot was rotting or had already rotted and was walking around. Kakashi quickly cleaned out his fridge and took the garbage bag down to the dumpster. When he got back to his room, he simply closed to door and leaned against it, sliding down to a fetal position. He didn't like this place, even if it was supposed to be home. It just wasn't right, and not because he had a lot of cleaning to do. It was empty and lonely, dirty and smelly, cold and depressing; all together a bad place to live.

The plumbing above his apartment had ended up leaking while he was away and a brown water stain had formed on his carpet, Kakashi noticed absently, feeling like he was seeing everything from outside his body. Maybe it was time to get the carpet replaced.

Kakashi's dogs were currently milling around the joint, looking for things that smelled bad so they could drag them over to the trash can. They disliked this place almost more than Kakashi at the moment. They missed Iruka and his need for cleanliness. It seemed as if their master did, too. One of the dogs came and sat next to Kakashi, resting its head against Kakashi's legs in a gesture of comfort, and Kakashi absently reached out to stroke its fur. Kakashi looked around again. He really didn't feel like cleaning right now. The jonin really didn't feel up to anything right now. Not reading, not training, not bathing, not eating _(not that there was anything _to _eat right now)_, nothing. All he really wanted to do was sit there and feel miserable.

And suddenly, Kakashi knew where his depression came from. This apartment, with its leaky plumbing and its small spaces and its faulty electrical system and its horrible water heater and the neighbors surrounding it; it was the cause of everything. Kakashi just wanted to go back to Iruka's and not be depressed anymore…Kakashi blinked and growled at his very ungenius-like moment, well, couple of hours, but who's counting. The Hokage said he'd had to move out, she never said anything about him going back and staying the night. Kakashi nearly shouted in his sudden genius moment, but…would Iruka want him back?

Kakashi settled himself against the door again, he hadn't realized he'd moved, and frowned as a wave of self doubt rolled over him. Would Iruka want him back? He'd just moved out. Maybe Iruka wanted a little time to himself?... Kakashi wasn't sure what he should do right now. He was just, he wasn't sure. He was indecisive. Kakashi knew he wanted Iruka and, maybe when Kakashi was around, Iruka wanted him to, but did Iruka want the copy nin around all the time? Kakashi sighed and cursed himself for being a coward. He'd give Iruka tonight and go back to visit him tomorrow after Iruka's shift in the Missions Room. He'd just give the other man a little time to be alone again. Iruka was probably sick of having him around, after all.

Kakashi pushed himself up and walked to the kitchen where the phone was located and called for take away. Then he busied himself with trying to make his little apartment safe for a human and his eight dogs starting with the bedroom. They needed to sleep somewhere, after all.

Time dragged by slowly, but finally, it was time for Kakashi to go to sleep and when he crawled into bed, he couldn't help but feel alone and cold, even with his dogs crawling on top of him. It just didn't feel right. Iruka wasn't scooting over to make room for him. Iruka wasn't curling up against him. Iruka wasn't throwing his leg over Kakashi's hips. Iruka wasn't making his night noises next to him. Iruka wasn't here, and with that thought, Kakashi closed his eyes and fought tooth and nail with his mind to get some sleep, but sleep didn't, wouldn't, couldn't, refused to, come.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Iruka was laying on his back, looking out the open window and wondering what was taking Kakashi so long. Iruka had ended up making food for two but Kakashi hadn't shown up. Iruka, instead, left a plate for Kakashi in the fridge. Iruka hadn't been able to do anything after Kakashi had left. Yeah, he'd made dinner, but that was with the hopes that Kakashi would show up and eat with him, but he hadn't. Was the Copy Nin no longer interested in Iruka? Somehow, that thought sounded hollow to Iruka, so it couldn't be that, but still, there was that one tiny sliver of doubt wedging itself into Iruka's brain.

Had Kakashi gotten what he'd wanted? Were they done? Iruka hoped not. They'd only just begun, and Iruka hadn't even gotten to- he wasn't sure what he hadn't been able to do, besides sleep with the man. Sure Iruka was upset about that, but that wasn't what was eating at him. Iruka was afraid he'd have to forget about Kakashi and move on, find someone else, some other way to live. Iruka didn't like that thought, no he did not.

Iruka growled _("Fuck this.")_ and crawled out of bed, pulled some pajama bottoms on, grabbed his clothes for tomorrow, grabbed his essentials and an alarm clock, looked up Kakashi's address and left his house. The man jumped over rooftops as quickly as was ninja-ly possible and came to rest outside Kakashi's bedroom window. Kakashi wasn't asleep, Iruka could tell at a glance; he knew Kakashi too well. Iruka moved over to the window and knocked on the glass, causing Kakashi to roll over quickly, reaching for what probably was a kunai hidden beneath his mattress. The silver-haired man visibly relaxed and moved over to the window. Kakashi opened it and there was a heavy silence.

"Iruka?" Kakashi whispered.

"I couldn't sleep. Now, can I come in or do I have to sleep in the tree?" Iruka smiled at the relieved look on his boyfriend's face as the man moved aside to let the younger ninja in. "My god, your place is a mess."

"Yeah," Kakashi scratched at the back of his head in a self conscious gesture. "I almost forgot I had owned this place. I don't really like it, though. It's too negative."

Iruka smiled and crawled onto the bed_ (after setting his clothes on the dresser like thing and plugging his alarm clock in and setting it)_, the dogs automatically making space for him, and made himself comfortable while Kakashi crawled in behind him. The school teacher felt Kakashi's body wrap itself around his, spooning to his shape, and Kakashi's lips against his pulse and moaned a little as he leaned his head to the side to allow his boyfriend better access. Kakashi's hands started wandering over Iruka's body, tracing Iruka's outline and memorizing every dip and curve, where every muscle was located and how it fit into the whole of Iruka. Iruka felt Kakashi's slightly chilled hands ghost over his nipples, barely touching, but there none the less.

Kakashi smirked and nipped at Iruka's pulse, further darkening the mark he'd made. His fingers pinched at the chocolate colored man's pebbled nipples firmly and Kakashi released Iruka's neck, moving his mouth down to Iruka's shoulder blade and his hands down to Iruka's waistline. That is when Iruka opened his eyes that he had realized he'd closed.

"Kakashi, I have to work tomorrow, and you're going on a mission tomorrow, too," Iruka groaned and panted. "You know I want to, but we both need our sleep."

Kakashi groaned against Iruka's back and nuzzled at his neck, breath ghosting over that place just behind Iruka's ear lobe. The copy nin's hips pushed forward ever so slightly, rubbing a half hard cock against Iruka's ass, letting Iruka know exactly how much he was wanted by the other man.

"I forgot about that mission. Stupid people needing my help," the silver-haired man mumbled against Iruka's throat. "When I get back, can we. Please?" Kakashi sounded kind of like a little kid begging for candy instead of a grown man.

Iruka chuckled at Kakashi and nodded. "Yes, when you get back. Now close the window so we can sleep. It's kinda cold tonight." Iruka ordered Kakashi around like he was made to do it and pulled off his pajama pants _(he really despised those things)_ before molding himself to Kakashi's body.

"Iruka?"

"Hmmm?"

"What am I supposed to do about my problem?" Kakashi poked Iruka in the side making the school teacher squeak.

"I don't know, forget about it," Iruka mumbled against Kakashi's chest.

"But you're making it worse," Kakashi said huskily.

"Picture Ibiki in a bikini," Iruka said without even thinking about the consequences.

There was a few seconds of pregnant silence before Kakashi whined: "'Ruka-chan, what'd you do that for? Now I can't get that image out of my head."

Iruka pushed his head up and looked at the alarm clock on the floor next to the bed, making sure it was set. "Well, it worked, didn't it?"

"Well, yeah, but…"

"Then quit your bitchin' and go to sleep." Iruka made himself more comfortable and closed his eyes. Kakashi sighed, but did as he was told. Nobody liked an angry Iruka, especially when a person was trying to get into said Iruka's pants. It generally didn't go over to well to make Iruka angry. Finally, both men were going to get the sleep they deserved. Which was good, because it was three AM and they both had killer days tomorrow.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Yay! Chapter 10! Did you like it, hate it? Do you want more? Let me know. I like feedback and Kakashi and Iruka like it when I write out their story, so please, please, review. It's for Kakashi and Iruka, people! They want me to write their lemon __(which will probably be the chapter after next _(chapter 12)_ but we have to get the other stuff out of the way)__ so please review._


	11. The Fantasy

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Hey, y'all! I'm back and I brought a chapter for _Stumble_! –thunderous applause all around- I hope you all are happy. I took time out of my busy schedule to write this pour toi _('for you' in French for those of you who don't know the basics)_. Alrighty, this one's just kinda a filler chapter before the really good stuff, so it'll be split again, starting and ending with Kakashi. This chapter deviated a little bit from the original plan, but I hope you all like it nonetheless._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Naruto. I believe that after 11 chapters we should have established this._

_**Inspiration:**__ The Fantasy-30 Seconds to Mars_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble: Chapter 11:_

_The Fantasy_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

It was 4:45 AM and Kakashi was moving around already; pulling clothes out of his duffle bag, testing his weapons, checking over his dogs _(who were extremely excited to just be going again)_, packing the things he'd need for the mission, etc. Iruka's alarm clock hadn't gone off yet, and Kakashi was contemplating waking Iruka up just to give him a kiss before he went off to track some missing nin and his group of teenage delinquent lackeys. The silver-haired man stopped wrapping his calves and watched Iruka roll over; sinuously stretching his well toned nude body before settling on his back with his arms over his head, hair a messy mane of chocolate framing the beautifully tanned face. Even with the scar, which was just perfect by Kakashi's opinion, Iruka's face was possibly the most beautiful face the Copy Nin had ever seen.

Kakashi smiled fondly and returned to his task, securely fastening the wrappings, before standing and looking around the room in case he'd forgotten anything that was absolutely essential. The mismatched gaze landed on the sleeping Chunnin again and Kakashi took the amount of steps needed to the edge of the bed, bent over and planted a very soft, gentle, 'I-love-you-and-I'll-see-you-again-soon' kiss on the naturally tanned forehead, cheek, nose, scar, lips, before straightening his back, pulling up his mask and turning to leave. He wrote out a quick note in his best handwriting _(which was very neat and careful; he wasn't trying to piss Iruka off this time)_, called his dogs to him and they left the apartment; the small living space that had the nerve to be signed to his name would either be completely clean by the time he got back or the building would have burned down, depending on Iruka's mood. Kakashi didn't particularly care, either way.

The Copy Nin arrived at the gate early because he wasn't the Copy Nin; he was Wolf and Wolf was never late for anything, especially a mission. A few minutes later the rest of his team showed up, a jonin specializing in tracking and a hunter specializing in traps, and they took off together, Kakashi immediately sending his dogs out to catch the scent. The three shinobi took to the trees, leaping from branch to branch with chakra enhanced legs and all the balance and silence of an army of hunting cats. They were traveling at an exponentially fast pace; none of the ninja wanted to be out here right now, but it was their job and they would do as they were told so they could return home to their respective lovers and families.

For the first few hours, the dogs pick nothing up and everything went by in a monotonous hazy of blurred trees to the sides, the leaf-strewn ground below and the blue-speckled foliage above. The only real concerns were listening for the sound of the dogs and where the most stable footing was to be found. Of course they were on their guard; no place was safe for an assassin. None in the team spoke, choosing instead to leave the conversation for a more friendly atmosphere. Besides, they'd worked together enough in the past to know each other's strengths, weaknesses and basic abilities, and to trust that the others would carry out their parts in their team.

A dog howled in the distance and all three ninja changed their direction in the blink of an eye on the balls of their feet, looking more like dancers in a pirouette than trained assassins on the trail of their prey. Kakashi took the lead, knowing the exact location of the dog that had howled being their owner, contractor, trainer and friend _(which was far more important when dealing with summons than many people believed)_. Kakashi closed his eyes briefly, already knowing where his next few footholds were, and inhaled deeply, trying to catch the faint scent that the dog had caught. Wolf smirked demonically beneath both of his masks and opened his eyes again; their prey was good at hiding, so good that Wolf had almost missed their scent. Wolf could feel his blood pumping through his veins; the hunt was on and their prey was running away fast.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Iruka opened his eyes to the sound of the blaring alarm clock, his mind already clouded with annoyance. The teacher felt strangely cold and the bed felt conspicuously empty. There was only one dog, the newest one, and it had its face really close to Iruka's, probably waiting for its 'master's mate' to wake up. It took Iruka a few minutes to roll over and slap his hand down on the annoying contraption making that horrible beeping noise. When the noise finally did stop, Iruka's mind cleared enough to finally take in his surroundings. He wasn't at his own house, he was at Kakashi's and he had to- Wait. Where was Kakashi?

Iruka sat up slowly and looked around. The room was empty except for the dog perched almost to the point of paralysis where it had been when Iruka had woken up; it was obviously trying very hard not to wag its tail _(…must not wag tail; have big important job to do; have to protect master's mate…)_. Iruka pushed himself out of bed and grabbed his clothes off of Kakashi's makeshift dresser and went to the bathroom _(thank the gods Kakashi had cleaned it when he'd come home)_, the large, awkward dog following closely behind. Iruka took care of his morning business and decided a quick shower wouldn't kill him…

…So a quick shower later, Iruka found himself digging through his boyfriend's cupboards for the coffee. He did eventually find it, but he couldn't find any food except for last night's take away _(damn stupid, depressed, lovable jonin)_. Iruka simply settled for the coffee, he'd grab something on the way to the academy, and he turned around, finally noticing the sheet of paper on the counter where Kakashi had left it. Walking over, he brilliantly deduced that it was a note, so he picked it up and read it.

_(Hey, 'Ruka-chan,_

_Sorry I'm not here this morning; my team had to leave earlier than expected. I'll be home late today or early tomorrow. This shouldn't take too long._

_Love you and see you soon,_

_ Kakashi)_

Iruka chuckled and put the note back in its place. Kakashi could use a decent handwriting style; he'd never get any slack in the Missions Room now. Iruka looked down at the dog that looked like it was about to wet itself and opened his mouth.

"Do you have to go out?"

The dog managed to get a look of relief across his face before jumping up and running to the door. Iruka followed at a moderately slow pace and opened the door to allow the big dog out. A few minutes later the coffee was done and an extremely relieved dog came trotting up to the door. The animal looked as though it were saying 'thank you,' so Iruka said 'you're welcome' and went to pour himself a cup of coffee and the dog a bowl of his breakfast.

After having his cup of coffee, he felt slightly more human. Iruka gathered up his school supplies, which he had somehow managed to grab in his hurry to leave his home last night, and headed off to school, being sure to hold the door open long enough for his dog companion/body guard to follow him out. The walk was surprisingly refreshing, the crisp morning air feeling good against his skin and was doing wonders at waking his mind up, which was good considering the day he was going to have to go through.

Iruka stopped at the coffee house to pick up a muffin or a doughnut or something of the general food-like category. He got his breakfast and ate on the way, taking in the sights he hadn't realized he'd missed while he'd been 'watching' Kakashi. Konoha was just starting to wake up and very few people were on the streets, so Iruka's path went unimpeded and time soon found Iruka walking onto Academy grounds.

The teacher entered the school building, walked through the familiar halls that led to various classrooms until he came to the most teacher-desired room in the whole building; the teachers' lounge. Iruka entered and looked around. Everything was exactly the same; the couch was still falling apart, the table still looked like one of those portable card tables that people kept in their houses in case of surprise guests, and the carpet still looked threadbare. Iruka walked over to his usual spot at the table and noticed that there were many more pock marks on the back of the door than there had been. The scent of coffee permeated the air, and Iruka also noticed that the teachers had stolen the coffee pot from T&I, which meant it was practically brand new and Ibiki was probably very angry about the loss of his most prized possession; T&I was probably turning Konoha upside down looking for it, unless, of course, they'd gotten a new one. One never could tell with Ibiki. The man chuckled and sat down to wait 'til he was required to make an appearance in his room.

Time went by rather quickly, punctuated by various conversations with his fellow teachers wondering where he'd been and why he'd had to be doing what he'd been doing and the progress of his class and how good of a teacher Genma was, etc, etc, etc., and soon the man was heading down the halls to his class room. He preformed his routine check for traps and pranks and turned to his desk, which was empty except for a note from Genma detailing what he'd taught them and what assignments they'd been given, which ones had been graded _(which was all of them except for the one that had been handed out yesterday and was do a week from tomorrow)_, and who had detention that week _(Konohamaru was on that list, along with his faithful followers; they'd have to be auctioned off to another teacher who didn't have to work in the missions room later that day)_.

Iruka looked up as the door opened and saw his usual first student enter and take his seat, pulling out a book to keep himself occupied until the beginning of class. This time, however, Iruka did notice a similarity between his lover and this student and couldn't help but chuckle slightly, quietly, which caused the boy to look up from his favorite book. He looked at Iruka questioningly and Iruka just shook his head and moved over to his desk. He was ready to start his day with the rambunctious group of pre-genin.

Said rambunctious pre-genin entered their class room in droves and the self appointed canine bodyguard backed himself up against the wall, trying to make himself as small as possible; Kakashi had never taken the time to introduce his dogs to the children of Konoha and the dog was scared of the mini-humans.

The day went by rather quickly, punctuated by enthusiastic 'Iruka-sensei!'s and stories about how Tsunade came in and kicked Genma to Mars and back and what pranks Konohamaru had tried to pull, but they failed and he was in detention until he graduated and so on a so forth. Iruka listened to all of the stories intently, adding his own input in the appropriate places and laughing when the stories were funny and shaking his head at Konohamaru's stupidity. The students were obviously happy to have him back and they asked why he'd been gone. Iruka then told them various highlights from his alleged 'vacation.'

Eventually, the dog over in the corner came forward, kind of excited at the fact that these children were so energetic, and wagged his tail maniacally, hoping for some attention because, after all, nin ken or not, he was still a dog. Iruka noticed and reached out his hand to pet it on the head.

"Who's doggie is that, Iruka-sensei?" a girl asked reaching out to touch the large puppy.

"Does it bite?" No, of course not, its owner is very strict with his training.

"Can we play with him?" Yes, he obviously wants to, but only today.

"Why do you have him?" I'm not entirely sure; he followed me.

"Can we keep him?" No, I'm sure his owner will want him back.

Iruka answered all the questions with the appropriate response, and stood up, patting his leg so that the dog would follow him.

"Alright children, let's go outside, get some of that extra energy out before we pick up classes tomorrow."

The children got up and followed their teacher eagerly; Iruka was in a good mood, best to take advantage of him while he was still willing. Once outside, the children took off and called to the dog, wanting him to play with them. The dog looked at Iruka for guidance.

"You can go play, but be gentle. They're not the enemy, they're children. No biting and be careful about tackling them."

The dog nodded soldier-like and ran off to join the enthusiastic children. Iruka sat off to the sidelines and only intervened when it was necessary to do so. The children were being gentle with the dog and the dog was only playfully nipping at their feet. Everything was fine, and Iruka was ready to spend the first part of his day in relative peace.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Iruka walked into the Missions Room; he'd managed to pawn his detention serving students off on some other poor teacher, and he was mentally bracing himself for the chaos that was the Missions Room. Fellow Chunnin raised their heads in greeting, the jonin turned their heads away and pretended to look busy or looked at their sorry excuse for a report and jutsued themselves away to redo them, and Kotetsu and Izumo raced over to the chocolate colored man eagerly. Izumo tackled Iruka with a giant hug and Kotetsu just stood off to the side with a smile.

"It's about time you got back here. The jonin have no respect for us, but they do for you, which we think is totally unfair, and they've been handing horrible reports in your absence," a female Chunnin explained from the desk. Her shift was over and Iruka was taking over. "Even if you weren't working the day shift, they handed in decent reports 'cause they knew you'd see them."

Iruka chuckled and took his customary place behind the desk, ready to begin his work period. The jonin that were satisfied with their work queued up and the first one handed Iruka his report, not really expecting anything to happen to him; his work was always neat. Iruka checked the scroll and called for the next person in line, and so on and so forth. Routine. None of the shinobi really had anything wrong with their reports because the ones that usually had problems were either on a mission, they hadn't been sent out yet or they were just now being handed their missions at the other end of the table. Iruka really didn't care either way; he was really appreciating the monotony on his first day back. Not to mention he really didn't feel like yelling right now.

Soon his shift was over, past over, in fact, and Kakashi had yet to come in, which meant the silver haired man was not back yet. Hit by this realization, Iruka felt a little twinge in the area of his heart; he missed Kakashi. The teacher had no clue how he was supposed to do this every single time the older man went on a mission. It was stressing worrying about whether or not your lover was going to come back alive or if they were going to came back at all. He had to give serious props to the women who weren't shinobi but were married to shinobi; they had to do this all the time.

After several more minutes of waiting in vain for his lover to enter the building, Iruka stood, locked up the missions, secured the missions desk, and turned off the lights on his way out. The lock clicked into place automatically as Iruka passed because it had a chakra sensor to tell if someone was in the room or not _(very smart door if anyone would think to ask Iruka's opinion)_. Iruka walked home in silence, but not alone as he still had his canine stalker, inhaling the chill evening air deeply, removing the stress from his body. Waiting for Kakashi was taking far too much of a toll on his stress levels. Everybody knew that a stressed Iruka wasn't a happy Iruka, but Kakashi seemed to make the school teacher reach his tension peak faster than even Naruto.

The man got home _(to his own house since Kakashi really didn't seem to like his own house apartment thing very much and Kakashi would want to be some place he felt comfortable when he got back)_ and went about his normal routines, not really thinking about it. Instead he was thinking about Kakashi. Where was he? Was he alive? If he was, was he hurt? Was he hurt badly? Was his mission successful? What if- No, Iruka was not _(he was not, under any circumstances, absolutely __**not**__)_ going to think about this any further. He'd only get more stressed and murder the dog that was currently following him around _(he had deduced that Kakashi had, indeed, left the dog there to protect him, which was kinda sweet)_, and Iruka was rather fond of the dog, by now. He had, after all, spent the entire day with him.

Iruka sighed and crawled into bed. He was bone tired and immediately fell into a deep sleep, despite the fact that he had wanted to stay awake incase Kakashi decided to come home _(yes, home because Kakashi practically lived there by now, even if the Hokage decided otherwise)_.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Kakashi passed by the guards on duty without a sound, the hunter was signing them in, and headed immediately for the Missions Room. There was still the smallest sliver of chance it was still open; it didn't necessarily mean Iruka was still working _(even if Kakashi would like that a lot, being able to see Iruka sounded good)_. It was 3 AM after all. He'd been going for a long time and he was ready to collapse, but he'd much rather walk Iruka home _(but it was probably not even conceivable for Iruka to still be in the Missions Room; he'd probably left around 11 PM if he was a sane person)_. The lights were off so Kakashi headed back to Iruka's house, home.

Kakashi walked along at a moderately slow pace. He wasn't too drastically injured, just some minor scrapes, bruises and lacerations, and his dogs had been sent back to his apartment to rest so they didn't dirty Iruka's house. The night was beautiful, but all the really wanted to do was crawl into bed with Iruka and snuggle, maybe have sex, if Iruka was up for it. Either way, he'd be with Iruka which was all he really wanted…Well, that and a massage, but Iruka could give him both.

Before Kakashi knew it, he was standing on the steps of Iruka's porch. The jonin really didn't feel like picking any locks or disabling any traps, so he went around the house and found an unlocked window_ (the bathroom window, coincidentally enough, 'cause he kinda wanted to take a shower; he was sweaty after all)_ and climbed into the house. The dog, Pup, had felt him come in, but he really didn't make a large noise about it; he just showed up at the bathroom door. Kakashi opened it and reached out to pat the extremely affectionate dog on the head before heading to their bedroom to grab some pajama pants. Soon, Kakashi was enjoying a nice hot shower and cleaning his wounds all in one. He still just wanted to crawl into bed with Iruka…

…So he did just that, not even bothering with the pajama pants. The silver haired man just crawled in the bed and Iruka, even when he was asleep, moved over to accommodate Kakashi and curled up into him when Kakashi had made himself comfortable. Pup settled himself at the foot of their bed, keeping guard for the two perfectly capable ninja. Kakashi didn't even think about sex as his eyes pulled themselves closed of their own accord; he was perfectly content to sleep and he'd obviously been more exhausted then he'd originally thought. That, or being in bed with Iruka was just too comfortable to stay awake.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

The sun found Kakashi and Iruka comfortably laying in bed, Kakashi just enjoying laying in bed with Iruka _(he was doing his best not to molest his sleeping boyfriend; that would make Iruka angry before his coffee)_ and Iruka still asleep _(his alarm clock hadn't gone off yet)_. Kakashi was rubbing gentle circles on Iruka's nude hips and watching the man in his sleep _(he seemed to be doing that a lot lately)_. Iruka was beautiful, was always beautiful, but even more so when the sun was shining on him in the early morning. Kakashi decided, was determined, that nothing should kill him short of the Hokage herself, and he was going to be around to see this sight well into their mid-70s.

The alarm clock started up its annoying high pitched sorry excuse for a song and Iruka groaned and tried to bury his face further into Kakashi's chest. Kakashi, of course chuckled at this and decided that it was the perfect time to start molesting Iruka, so he did. He started with the slow kneading of Iruka's ass and then moving one of his hands up to the small of Iruka's back while the other worked its way between Iruka's ass cheeks, for lack of a better term. Iruka's eyes popped open and he immediately hit Kakashi upside the head.

"Kakashi, I have to work today," the school teacher tried to push himself out of the bed and sound harsh while moaning. Needless to say, he had yet to perfect the art.

"Well, skip it," Kakashi replied easily.

"No, I can't."

"Why not? You promised we'd have sex when I get back," Kakashi whined as Iruka firmly pushed his hands into their owner's chest.

"Not now, when I get home tonight. Tomorrow's Saturday. I don't really know why they sent me back to work on a Thursday, but that's how it is and I promise, promise, promise, promise that we'll have sex tonight when I get home, 'kay?" Iruka was really close to Kakashi now, barely any room left between their two naked bodies.

Kakashi looked directly into Iruka's eyes. "I wasn't clear on one thing…"

"Don't be a smartass, Kakashi."

"Yessir," Kakashi whispered and kissed the shorter man's lips gently.

"Good."

And with that, Iruka went about getting ready for his day at the Academy, no Missions Room tonight and Kakashi picked up a book to occupy himself while he waited. The man could hardly wait.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise: **__Yay! Chapter 11. Did you all like it? Hate it? I would like to know. Reviews are like red wine for me. I love them…So, yeah. Please review. I tend to update faster when people review and the next chapter is a lemon! SMUT!! Yeah! I can't wait to post it. Yay!_


	12. Never Surrender

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ OMG! Finally, inspiration! Thank you Skillet! Sorry it took so long to get to you all. I think there are about two or three more chapters after this one, so I'm almost done, but here it is._

_**Disclaimer:**__ I don't own Naruto. Kakashi and Iruka just live in my closet and allow me to write about all the kinky shit they get into. I had no idea Iruka was into that kind of stuff… (Kakashi did, but he didn't feel like telling me…)_

_**Inspiration: **__Never Surrender-Skillet (I think that's how Kakashi would sound if he were real, the lead singer of Skillet…)_

_**Changes: **__Hey guys, -waves nervously and steps out from behind a curtain- I know I said that this chapter would be a lemon, but I just haven't been into the lemon writing mood for ages and I couldn't pull this one out of my butt 'cause I wanted it to be good for you guys, so I'm skipping the lemon and I'll probably end up writing it later as a separate thing for you guys for being so patient with me. Once again, I'm sorry for the distinct lack of lemon in this chapter and I hope you all can forgive me. (pwease –pouty face-)… there is a little bit of a lime in here (it was as far as I got in the lemon before I decided it sounded a bit forced)…_

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_Stumble: Chapter 12:_

_Never Surrender_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

Kakashi glanced at the clock for the nth time that day. Waiting was getting to be a real annoying problem. The silver-haired man did not want to wait any longer; he just wanted Iruka to come home so he could sleep with the man already. He'd been waiting since last week _(probably longer)_ for this, and he'd be damned if he had to wait any longer. Kakashi could just hear Iruka's comments to his inner dialogue.

"_You waited a week; you can wait a few more hours."_

Kakashi didn't like that argument.

The man sighed and tried to concentrate on his book again, but he was having a hard time of it. Pakkun had appeared in the living room a few minutes ago and was absently sitting on Kakashi's foot. The dog did that a lot when Kakashi ignored him, but the silver-haired man was used to it by now, even if it did make his foot fall asleep now because Pakkun wasn't as small as he used to be.

Pakkun, after Kakashi had sighed for the nth time, casually bit Kakashi's leg. He was sick of this.

"Shut up, already. Get up and do something that'll make the time go more quickly," the pug rumbled. "You're acting like a lovesick bitch, you know that, right?"

"Yes, I am well aware of the fact and I'm allowed to, but I don't bottom."

Pakkun rolled his eyes and got off the foot; it was starting to get extremely uncomfortable, anyway. Kakashi took that opportunity to stand up and go get something to eat. It was well after lunch; he'd skipped it because at the time, he'd been nose deep in his book and nothing could have made him get up and do anything else. But that time was over and he wanted Iruka to come home already. Reading porn and actually having sex were two totally different things.

After he'd made himself a sandwich, he ended up in the living room looking out the large window at Iruka's quiet neighborhood. He could definitely get used to living here.

There was a click at the door, like a key hitting the lock, which was weird 'cause Kakashi was still here, but the door opened and Iruka walked in with a brown paper bag of groceries. The chocolate man toed off his shoes and made his way to the kitchen. Kakashi followed him like the love sick puppy he was.

"Give me half an hour, 'kay?" Iruka said as he put away the groceries. It was almost like he expected Kakashi to molest him as soon as he walked in the door _(which Kakashi had been seriously considering)_, and it kinda made Kakashi laugh a little.

Kakashi made an affirming noise and watched the man move around the kitchen. Iruka was doing his best to ignore him; that much was obvious, but Kakashi would not be deterred. He was allowed to look at his lover, after all. When Iruka was finished he turned and looked at Kakashi from his spot in the exact center of the kitchen.

"What?" Iruka muttered.

Kakashi just gave him a shit-eating grin and continued to stare at him. It was hard not to. Iruka sighed and glanced at the clock.

"You're actually giving me a half-hour?" Iruka said with a raised eyebrow. Did Kakashi really come off as the type to jump someone before they were ready? Maybe he'd have to work on that…

"You asked for one, but that's as long as I'll wait. I've been horny all day," Kakashi shifted his weight in the door frame slightly and smiled sweetly at Iruka.

The younger man chuckled, and looked at the clock again. "How about you start five minutes early…?" Iruka said slowly. "You are allowed to be early, correct?"

"I believe I can make an exception," Kakashi murmured and walked forward, slowly backing Iruka against the fridge behind him.

"Good, I've been horny all day, too," Iruka admitted as he wrapped his arms around Kakashi's neck.

"Sensei!" Kakashi began in mock shock as he softly ran his lips against Iruka's jaw, "are you allowed to be horny during school? What bad examples are you setting for the children?"

Iruka rolled his eyes and titled his head back as Kakashi started more serious work on his neck. "Says the man who reads porn in public."

Kakashi chuckled and started sucking on Iruka just a tiny bit harder.

"We are not doing this here," Iruka gasped as Kakashi's hands started to work their way up under his shirt. "The fridge is cold."

"That is the general idea of it, yes," Kakashi responded, gently rubbing against a quivering stomach. "Any particular place you had in mind, sensei? I'm up for just about anywhere, but it's your choice."

"The bedroom sounds just about right," Iruka whispered and tangled his fingers in Kakashi's hair, tugging the head up so their lips could mesh properly.

Kakashi smirked against the lips and before Iruka could say anything, they were in the bedroom and Iruka was on his back on the bed, Kakashi on top of him.

"Was that really necessary?" Iruka muttered and glared.

"I didn't feel like walking," Kakashi shrugged and divested himself of his shirt.

"You're lazy," Iruka admonished as he wrapped his arms around Kakashi's shoulders, tangling fingers in unruly silver locks, and firmly tugging at Kakashi's head.

"If I were lazy, I wouldn't have put in the energy to transport us here. I would have just done you against the fridge," Kakashi laughed before finally giving in and kissing Iruka.

Iruka immediately opened his mouth with no prompting from Kakashi and easily let his tongue slip into the older man's mouth. They were behaving more like old lovers than a couple that was having sex for the first time with each other. Sure, there was passion, but it was like they were used to this, like it was an old favorite pass time for them. It probably would be by the time tonight was over. Kakashi let his tongue slide along Iruka's before closing his lips around it and sucking on it gently.

Iruka moaned and pulled his tongue back before pushing it back it, mimicking something else Kakashi would love to be doing. Kakashi let his tongue explore Iruka's mouth, tasting every inch as his hands worked on getting Iruka out of his clothes. By now, Kakashi was fairly proficient at performing both tasks simultaneously. Of course, it helps when the partner helps as well, and Iruka did help. The man moved whenever Kakashi needed him to, often moaning into the kiss when Kakashi would pause and play with various parts of the younger man's body; the nipples, lower back, sensitive flesh inside the elbow, palming Iruka's erection; that last one got the biggest reaction.

Kakashi chuckled into the kiss and pulled away, looking down at Iruka's very naked body. Gods, this man was beautiful. Kakashi quickly stripped himself and was back on Iruka in an instant, the younger man easily spreading his legs to make room for Kakashi.

"Eager, sensei?" Kakashi whispered and Iruka smacked the back of the silver head before quickly tangling his fingers in the hair and moaning as Kakashi bit at Iruka's earlobe. Kakashi smirked. Iruka was fun.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

Kakashi pulled Iruka more closely to him and kissed the top of the man's head tenderly causing the younger man to nuzzle at the crook of Kakashi's neck. The two men were comfortable because this whole snuggling in bed thing wasn't new to either of them, obviously; especially not with each other. Living together and accidentally falling for each other did that. Kakashi's fingers ran up and down Iruka's spine gently, feather light, and the younger man pinched him and said something that sounded suspiciously like 'tickles'. Smirking, Kakashi continued exactly what he was doing and Iruka huffed and opened his eyes.

Brown eyes glared half heartedly into icy blue and red and the latter pair crinkled up in a smile to show exactly how Kakashi felt about receiving the glare. Iruka sighed and gave up and Kakashi chuckled. Iruka was just too cute when he was tired and sated. Kakashi would have to work hard to keep him that way. The younger man stretched and groaned, wrapping his arms around Kakashi's neck and started scratching at the scalp and Kakashi melted.

"I swear you're more cat than dog," Iruka muttered, throwing a leg over Kakashi's hips possessively.

Kakashi made some unintelligible noise and pushed back against the magical fingers, eyes rolling back into his head and he hummed happily. Iruka snorted but continued with what he was doing and began sucking at Kakashi's neck. Said man decided it was only fair because he'd marked Iruka all over the place; one hickey wouldn't be too bad, especially when he could hide it with his mask.

There was a scratch at the door and it slowly nudged itself open as a large dog head poked itself in. Pakkun, sitting on top of Bull's head like he belonged there, said: "Is it safe to come in? We're tired and the living room floor isn't all that comfortable."

And, without waiting for a reply, the dogs filed in and found their places on top of or next to their master and his mate. Kakashi, who had lifted his head just enough to glare at his dogs let it drop heavily back to the bed with a huff. He'd said it once, he'll say it twice; the dogs hadn't listened to him regarding his bed space since they were pups. Iruka laughed quietly and ran his fingers gently through silver hair once again.

"They don't respect privacy very well, do they?" the younger man asked.

"Nope," Kakashi replied, ignoring the sounds of protest his dogs made, and pushed his head back against the hands and wrapped his arms more tightly around his lover. Lover… he liked the sound of that. Not just bedmate; lover… "If you're not careful, I could get used to this and then you'd never be rid of me."

"Did I say I wanted to get rid if you?" Iruka murmured sleepily. "You may be an annoying, pompous-ass jonin that doesn't know how to behave in civilized society and likes to fight authority in public and traumatizes his students for the heck of it," an annoyed huffy whine of protest _(yes, it came from Kakashi)_, "but I like having you around, bastard."

"Well…" Kakashi began, but never finished. He couldn't really think of a good comeback that soon after good sex, so the unfinished statement hung in the air uncertainly before going and hiding in the partially opened closet. Iruka had a point.

Pakkun laughed and the other dogs all squirmed, trying to keep silent lest they call Kakashi's wrath upon them _(in truth, Kakashi would never hurt his dogs, but he would yell at them for a really long time and use a lot of his considerably extensive vocabulary to do so)_.

Silence filled the room, punctuated by the breathing and snoring of Kakashi's dogs and the occasional shift from any one of the bed's numerous occupants. Then Kakashi whispered, because he knew Iruka wasn't asleep yet:

"Did you know I always thought you were a prudish, proper schoolteacher that couldn't be any fun?" Iruka lifted his head and frowned at the older man.

"Really? I don't try to come off like that…"

"Yeah, but now that Naruto told me about your school years I don't know how I could have thought that…"

"Oh… go to sleep 'Kashi. 'M sleepy," Iruka murmured and buried his head in the crook of Kakashi's neck again.

"Yes, dear."

And Kakashi closed his mouth, just listening to Iruka's breathing as it evened out and joined the cacophony of snores and snorts and the shifting of sheets and the snapping of jaws yawning. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, adjusting the position of his head to get more comfortable before he slowly drifted off to sleep.

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_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ Hey, guys, sorry this chapter is so late and so short. It was supposed to be longer, if the lemon had actually been included, but if you'd read the AN up top, you'd know what's been going on. I apologize for the later update once again and I give you all a plate of virtual cookies. _

… _I just realized I was listening to music in Japanese… When did I get Japanese music?… Aheheheheh…-scratched back of head nervously- I hope you all enjoyed the chapter nonetheless; please let me know how I did, even without the lemon. Sorry again._


	13. Epilogue

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ 'Kay, guys. This is officially the last chapter of __Stumble__… well, more like an epilogue, really, in that it's so short, but all the same… I would like to thank each and every one of you for sticking it out with me through all the lateness and the lack of lemons and all of my stupid excuses and I'm sorry this chapter isn't very long, but I might write a sequel for y'all sometime, just 'cause y'all have been so patient with me… Maybe a lemon… Thank you!_

_**Disclaimer:**__ I do believe we went over this already, ya know, in Chapter 1…_

_**Inspiration:**__ Disney's __Beauty and the Beast__; no song for this'n. _

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_Stumble: Chapter 13:_

_Epilogue_

_By: Masked-Writer-In-Disguise_

Warm. That was the first thing that came into Iruka's head when he woke up. He was completely warm and comfortable and he felt absolutely wonderful; like floating would be quite nice right about now, really. Kakashi's body was comfortable, pressed up against the smaller one with a head of silver hair tucked neatly under Iruka's chin. Who knew Kakashi liked to cuddle after sex? Iruka doubted anyone would have had a chance to find out, and he rejoiced in that fact. Kakashi, the supposedly most eligible sex god of a bachelor, was Iruka's, a small Chunnin school teacher. Ha!

Iruka took this moment to bask in a triumphant glow before it was very rudely interrupted by a bright cheerful voice, also known as Naruto, invading the peace of the morning.

"Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called out, the voice slowly getting closer to the bedroom. "Iruka-sensei. Have you seen Kakashi?" There was a knock on the bedroom door before it was pushed open, revealing a head of golden hair to the suddenly very grumpy school teacher. "He's very, extremely, more so than usual- GYAAH!"

Iruka smirked at Naruto's reaction and Kakashi's head snapped up, eyes eerily sharp as he glanced around the room sleepily before landing on Naruto.

"Training's canceled. Go 'way, Naruto," Kakashi muttered and let his head fall back to Iruka's chest, his eyes immediately falling closed again.

But Naruto didn't go away. Instead he stood there and gaped like a fish pointing accusingly at Kakashi and occasionally letting out little clips of sentences like, "But, Iruka-" and "Kakashi, you deflowered-" but he never made it through any of them.

"Go away, Naruto. I'm fine, he's fine and your training's canceled. I'll call you when I feel like getting out of bed," Iruka finally put a stop to the stupidity that was ruining his morning.

Naruto looked at his big brother-like figure before nodding reluctantly and turning to leave. Just before he disappeared completely he muttered, "You're both gonna owe me a lot of ramen for this." Then he was gone.

The chocolate haired man listened for the front door to close before he let himself drop back to his pillow and close his eyes, his irritation at the blond quickly melting away as Kakashi's fingers trailed suggestively down his side and over his hip towards his inner thigh… Damn, he felt good.

&~o~o~o~o~o~o~&

_**Masked-Writer-In-Disguise:**__ And there y'all have it: The Last Chapter of __Stumble__. Celebrate and mourn in equal measure with me alright? Celebrate because this is officially the first chaptered story I have ever completed and mourn because it's over… I had a hell of a time writing this, but I'm kinda glad I got this one off my chest and out of my workload. I have a lot of stuff I need to write. Thank you and good night!_


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